What's Life Without a Little Adventure?
by dancergirlie13
Summary: Maddie is new to town. She thought Mystic Falls would be a nice small town she could stay in since her family left her. She couldn't move in at a better time. Now she has to deal with vampires, witches, werewolves, and haunting memories from her past. Will she be able to unlock the secrets and mysteries this town has to hide? Or die trying? Elena/Stefan, Eventually Damon/OC
1. Pilot

I woke up to my alarm clock ringing loudly. I groaned as I looked over at the time: 6:30 AM. I groaned again as I rolled out of bed and started getting ready for my first day of school. My name is Maddie Michaels. I have long, brown hair and aqua blue eyes. I'm about 5'5'' and I guess I'm tiny looking, but I don't look like a twig, thank goodness. I live in a small house: just me. A while back, my family had just decided to ditch me and leave me here. Yeah, nice, I know. But that didn't really bug me. I was used to being on my own.

It was the first day of school, and I wasn't too excited to go. I didn't know anyone. I had just moved here last year after my family had left. We had this as one of our small getaway houses out in the middle of the woods. It was nice and everything was paid for, so I didn't have to really worry about anything. There was food here, but I was running low, so I guess I should look for a job soon. I put on a zebra striped fitted shirt, denim shorts, and my yellow-converse shoes. I grabbed a pop tart and my backpack on my way out of the door.

I know what you are probably thinking right now. Why should I go to school if no one was going to make me? Well, I don't really know the answer for that. I just felt like I had to. If I was going to fend for myself, might as well get educated in the process. I don't really mind school, though. As long as I make friends in Mystic Falls, I'll be fine.

-0-

After I had got my stuff from the counselor's office, I headed over to where my locker number was. _This is it; my first day. I need to get out there, and enjoy life, not be bummed about it._ Remember how I said my family leaving me didn't really bug me? I lied. It bugged me a lot. I was depressed about it all the time. The part that bugs me the most is that I don't even know why they left. But that was in the past now, and I needed to move forward.

"Can I still say 'tranny mess?'?" I heard someone say right behind me. I turned around and saw two girls. They both had dark brown hair, were around my height, and one of them had darker skin. The walked up to their lockers (which were directly next to mine) and continued chatting.

"No, that's over." The other girl said.

"Ah, find a man, find a phrase. It's a busy year." The darker skinned girl said. I opened my locker and they both turned to me.

"Hey I don't recognize you, are you new?" The dark skinned girl said.

"Yeah, I just moved here. My name's Maddie." I said.

"It's nice to meet you! I'm Bonnie, by the way, and this is Elena." Bonnie pointed to Elena.

"Hi." She said and gave a weak smile.

Bonnie glanced over Elena, and she seemed to notice. Elena looked over and waved at someone across the hall.

Elena looked back at us. "He hates me." She said.

"That's not hate. That's 'you dumped me, but I'm too cool to show it, but secretly I'm listening to air supply's greatest hits.'" Bonnie said.

"Elena, oh my god." Said a blonde haired girl and she came up and hugged Elena. "How are you? Oh it's so good to see you." She turned to Bonnie. "How is she? Is she good?"

"Caroline," the girl turned and looked at Elena. "I'm right here. And I'm fine. Thank you."

"Really?" Caroline asked.

"Yes. Much better." Elena said

"Oh, you poor thing." Caroline said as she engulfed Elena in another hug. _What happened? _

"Ok, Caroline." Elena said as Caroline was hugging her.

"Oh," Caroline said as she saw me. "Who's this?"

"I'm Maddie." I said with a smile.

"Hi, I'm Caroline. Oh! That's what you need!" She turned to Elena. "Another friend!" She looked back at me. "We should all be friends! We all need friends, right? Ok, see you guys later? Ok, bye!" Caroline said as she walked off with a big grin on her face.

"Don't worry, Maddie. That's just Caroline being Caroline." Bonnie said. I smiled back at her. Even if Caroline kind of pushed me into it, I'm glad that we were all friends. Well, sort of.

"No comment." Elena said, referring to Caroline.

"I'm not going to say anything." Bonnie said and they both turned to me. "If you don't want to hang with us, it's totally cool. We don't want Caroline to pressure you or anything."

"No, that's okay. I could actually use some friends right now." I said.

"Good, me too." Elena said and we all walked off together.

We walked down the halls a ways before Bonnie stopped us. "Wait, who's this?" Elena and I looked over and saw a tall guy with short brown hair. He was wearing a biker jacket and jeans.

"All I see is back." Elena said.

"It's a hot back." I said and Elena and Bonnie chuckled.

"I'm sensing Seattle, and he plays the guitar." Bonnie said. I looked over her with a confused look and Elena whispered that she would tell me later.

"You're really going to run this whole psychic thing into the ground, huh?" Elena said to Bonnie.

"Pretty much." Bonnie responded.

"Jeremy, good batch, man." We heard a guy say.

Elena looked over and saw someone walking into the restroom. "I'll be right back." And Elena walked off. I looked at Bonnie for an answer but she just kept staring at the new guy.

"Please be hot," Bonnie said under her breath and I looked back at him as well.

Finally he turned around and Bonnie and I just stared. He was hot. He walked out of the front office and past Bonnie and me. I watched him walk away and Bonnie started following him. Not knowing what to do, I tried to catch up with Bonnie. I looked over and saw Elena walk out of the men's room and run into him. _Whoa…awkward._ The bell rang and I followed Bonnie to our first class: History.

-0-

"Once our Home State of Virginia joined Confederacy in 1861, it created a tremendous amount of tension within the state." Mr. Tanner was teaching us that day but I couldn't really pay attention. I started doodling in my notebook when I noticed the new guy staring at Elena. Bonnie and I had exchanged phone numbers and I texted her 'Hotty staring at Elena o.O'

She responded almost in an instant. 'ikr? So cute!'

'agreed!' I texted Bonnie and glanced my way over at Elena. She was looking at her phone and just smiled, then acted like she was listening to Mr. Tanner. I glanced over at the new guy and he wouldn't take his eyes off of her.

-0-

"Hey Bon!" I said as I saw Bonnie coming over to the lockers.

"Hey Madd. How was your first day?" She asked putting her books in her locker.

"As good as any first day can go, I guess." I said.

"Yeah." She chuckled. "Hey, listen, a couple of us are gathering at The Grill, do you wanna come?" She asked.

"Are you sure? I mean I don't really know you guys that well and…" I started to say but Bonnie cut me off.

"Hey, it's totally fine! We love new people. Come on, let's go." Bonnie insisted.

"Okay!" and with that, we headed off to the grill.

-0-

"His name is Stefan Salvatore. He lives with his uncle up at the old Salvatore boarding house. He hasn't lived here since he was a kid. Military family, so they moved around a lot. He's a Gemini and his favorite color is blue." Caroline said.

"You got all that in one day?" I asked.

"Please, I got that between third and fourth period. We're planning a June wedding." Caroline said as she turned around and walked off. Bonnie and I exchanged glances and chuckled.

I was at the Grill and I met a lot of people. Matt was really nice, but didn't talk much; Caroline, well now I know what Bonnie meant about Caroline being Caroline. We had a lot to talk about. She told me how she was the cheerleading captain and I told her I had taken gymnastics and then we got into a fun talk about it. Let's just say that I'm now a Mystic Falls High cheerleader. I was actually super excited.

Bonnie and Caroline basically filled me in on everything I need to know: about Elena and Jeremy, about Elena and Matt, about Tyler and the football team. Just everything I needed to know. I felt bad for Elena and Jeremy losing their parents. Trust me, I knew how they felt. I looked down at my locket and it reminded me of my family. I had to hold back tears. That was a long time ago, and I needed to move on. Bonnie and I walked over and sat down by Matt.

"How's Elena doing?" Matt asked, really worried.

"Her mom and dad died. How do you think?" Bonnie responded. "She's putting on a good face but it's only been four months."

"Has she said anything about me?"

"Oh, no, so not getting in the middle. You pick up the phone and call her." Bonnie said.

"I feel weird calling her, she broke up with me." Matt said.

"Give it more time, Matt." I finally said and he looked over at me and I gave him an encouraging smile. I looked at Bonnie who seemed to be looking at someone else. Matt and I followed her gaze (and so did everyone else) as we saw Elena and Stefan walking into the grill.

Matt turned to me, "More time, huh?" I gave him an apologetic look and he walked toward Stefan.

I turned to Bonnie, "Did I say something wrong?"

"No, he's just very upset over Elena. Don't take it personal." Bonnie said with an apologetic smile.

"Okie dokie." I said, taking a sip of my lemonade.

A while later, Stefan, Caroline, and Elena joined Bonnie and me at a table.

"So, you were born in Mystic Falls?" Caroline asked.

"Mm-hmm and moved when I was still young." Stefan said.

"Parents?" Bonnie asked.

"My parents passed away." Stefan said. _Join the club. _Well, my parents didn't really pass away, but they did leave me behind, which was kind of the same thing.

There was an awkward silence and everyone looked at Elena. "I'm sorry." She said to Stefan. Stefan nodded. "Any siblings?" she asked.

"None that I talk to." Stefan responded. "I live with my uncle."

"So, Stefan, Maddie, if you two are both new, then you both don't know about the party tomorrow." Caroline said.

"It's a back to school thing at the Falls." Bonnie clarified.

Stefan turned to me, "You're new too?"

"Yup. First day." I said.

He then turned to Elena. "Are you going?"

"Of course she is!" Bonnie answered for her.

Elena just smiled. She and Stefan stared at each other for a while before Caroline broke the silence again. "Maddie, you never told us about you."

All eyes were on me. "There's not much to tell. I'm kind of an open book." I finally said.

"Oh come on, there has to be something we don't know. How about your family?" Bonnie asked

I hesitated for a minute. "They're, um, good. I'm kinda thirsty so I'm just going to get a refill." I hurry got up and left before anyone said anything. Everyone just turned their attention back to Stefan. Elena got up a few moments later and came up next to me.

"Alright, what's going on? Spill." Elena said as she stood next to me.

"What are you talking about?" I said and tried to shrug it off.

"I may be depressed, but I'm still observant. Every time we try to get to know you or mention the word family, you cringe." I cringed but regretted it. "See? Are you having family problems?" Elena looked concerned.

"No! Of course not. Well, not really..."

"Maddie, come on, you can tell me." Elena said.

"I don't have one, ok?" I blurted out and I regretted even opening my mouth. She is having her own family issues, why did I just bring mine into it? She had a sad look on her face. "Um, it's getting late. I should get going." And with that I ran out of the Grill and headed home, mentally scolding myself.

-0-

"The Battle of Willow Creek took place right at the end of the war in our very own Mystic Falls. How many casualties resulted in this battle?" It was the next day and we were all in history. Mr. Tanner was teaching us about the Battle of Willow Creek. "Ms. Bennett?" He looked at Bonnie.

"Um…a lot?" Everyone laughed. "I'm not sure. Like a whole lot." Bonnie said.

"Cute becomes dumb in an instant, Ms. Bennett." Mr. Tanner said with a serious voice. "Mr. Donovan! Would you like to take this opportunity to overcome your embedded jock stereotype?"

"It's okay, Mr. Tanner, I'm cool with it." Matt said and I chuckled again.

"Ms. Michaels, you seem to be full of kicks and giggles this morning, surely you know the answer." Mr. Tanner said as he turned towards me.

"Umm… I think around 300..." I answered.

"Can you be more specific?"

"Probably not." I said giving up on trying to remember. I earned a giggle from a few students on my tone of voice.

"Hmm. Elena," Tanner now faced Elena. "Surely you can enlighten us about one of the town's most significant historical events?"

"I'm sorry, I-I don't know." Elena answered.

"I was willing to be lenient last year for obvious reasons, Elena, but the personal excuses ended with summer break." _Wow, Mr. Tanner could be a real jerk!_

"There were 346 casualties, unless you're counting local civilians." Stefan spoke up.

Mr. Tanner looked impressed. "That's correct. Mister…?"

"Salvatore." Stefan answered.

"Salvatore. Any relation to the original settlers here at Mystical Falls?"

"Distant."

"Well, very good, except, of course, there were no civilian casualties in this battle." Mr. Tanner said as he walked towards the chalk board.

"Actually, there were 27, sir." Stefan said. "Confederate soldiers, they fired on the church, believing it to be housing weapons. They were wrong. It was a night of great loss. The founder's archives are, uh, stored in civil hall if you'd like to brush up on your facts. Mr. Tanner." I couldn't help but smile widely at that as I looked at Mr. Tanner's face.

"Hmm." Was all Mr. Tanner said and continued with the lesson.

-0-

I was able to dodge everyone else all day. I was sure Elena told them about our little conversation last night and I didn't really want to talk to anyone about it. They all had their own problems, no need to drag mine in as well, but I said I would go to the party, and here I was. It wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. I looked over at the bonfire and saw Elena and Bonnie. They were both holding onto a beer bottle and suddenly Bonnie let go. Bonnie got a weird look on her face and Elena looked worried. _Must be one of her weird psychic thing she was telling me about. _Afraid that I would be seen, I tried to sneak away. "Maddie!" I heard Bonnie yell.

I groaned and put on a fake smile as I turned around. "Hey Bonnie!"

"You enjoying the party?"

"Somewhat." I said. She looked serious now. "Ugh, I gotta go...that way..." I said as I began walking away.

"No you don't." Bonnie said as she pulled me back. "Maddie, Elena told me what you said last night." _Oh, great. Here it comes. _"You don't have to be afraid to tell us. We're here for you, you know that right?"

"Well it's just that Elena just lost her parents and you have all known each other longer and I didn't want to feel like I'm intruding or anything and…" I began but Bonnie cut me off.

"Maddie, it's okay. We're all friends here. Laugh together, mourn together; we're here for you." Bonnie gave me a bright smile.

I smiled back and gave her a hug. I never had anyone to talk to, and it was nice now that I did. I didn't realize I had started tearing up when we pulled away.

Bonnie kinda chuckled as she asked, "you all right?"

I laughed. "Yeah. I just never had anyone to talk to before. Thanks Bonnie."

She smiled. "Hey, let's go get another drink."

"I don't do much drinking, but I'll come with you."

"Suit yourself." Bonnie laughed and we went and partied.

-0-

It was starting to get late, and I was getting really tired. Everyone was still partying and I was just kinda hanging off to the side. I looked over and saw Elena and Matt talking in the distance. I didn't even know Stefan was standing next to me.

"So are you having fun?" Stefan asked. I jumped at the sound of his voice. He chuckled a bit. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

"No you're fine. Just a little tired I guess. The party is fun, but it would be nice if I actually knew some people here." I said.

"Yeah, I know the feeling." It was silent for a minute and then I looked over and Stefan was staring at me. He noticed me looking over and asked, "Strange question, but have we met before?"

I laughed a little; he must a little drunk. "Not that I know of. I guess I just have one of those faces."

"Yeah, sorry about that. That was probably a little creepy." He said and I laughed. "You want a drink or something?" Stefan asked.

"No, sorry. I'm not much of a drinker; it makes me sick."

"Alright, well have fun." Stefan said as he walked towards Elena. But Caroline had come over to talk to him.

"You too." I yelled after him so he could hear me.

I started walking around for a couple of minutes until I spotted Bonnie. She was now talking to Caroline and Caroline looked a little upset. She probably tried to go for Stefan, but even I could tell that Stefan was into Elena. I finally got their attention as I came over but then I heard Elena yell, "Somebody help!" Elena and Jeremy were holding Vicki.

"Vicki? Vicki, what the hell?!" I heard Matt yell as he ran over to Vicki.

"What happened to her?" Tyler asked.

"Somebody, call an ambulance!" Matt yelled.

"Everybody back up, give her some space!" Tyler yelled.

"It's her neck. Something bit her. She's losing a lot of blood. It's bad." Elena cried.

I saw Vicki's neck and blood all around it. I was about to run over to help but I got a massive migraine. I grunted as I grabbed onto my head and knelt down.

"Maddie! Are you okay?" Bonnie asked placing her hand on my back.

"I'm fine." I managed to say through the pain. "Just a migraine. Go help Vicki." I said and yelled out in pain, but not loud enough to draw attention.

"Everyone else is helping Vicki, I'm getting you out of here." Bonnie said as she helped me up.

She brought me out to a bench by her car. The pain was starting to subside but I still had a headache.

"Are you okay? Have you been drinking?" Bonnie asked as she looked to see if my eyes were dilated.

"I haven't had anything to drink. I'm fine, it was probably the blood. I guess I'm a little squeamish. How about Vicki? Is she okay? Did someone call an ambulance?" I said speaking like a million miles an hour.

"I think she'll be okay." Elena said. Bonnie and I turned our heads and saw Elena. "We got the blood to stop and the ambulance is on its way. Everyone's clearing out." Elena was shaking so Bonnie and I gave her a hug.

"I'm glad she's okay and something worse didn't happen." Bonnie said breaking the hug.

"Me too." Elena looked at me. "Hey Maddie, I know it's probably lonely just out by yourself, do you want to stay with me? We have an extra room."

"No, I don't want to cause a hassle or anything…"I began

"It's no hassle at all!" Elena smiled. "Please? Aunt Jenna would love to have another person around to talk to and you're welcome to stay!"

I thought about it for a minute. It would be nice to actually live in town instead of out in the boonies. "Sounds like fun!" Elena smiled at this. We stayed at the party a while longer while people were clearing out. Elena had called Jenna, told her what happened, and asked if I could stay with them. I just stayed on a bench, watching Vicki get hauled up into the ambulance. Elena came and sat next to me. "How's Jeremy? Is he alright?" I asked.

"He doesn't quite know how to take it yet. I guess it's something you just can't get used to." Elena said and I nodded.

We looked over and saw Bonnie; she looked really worried. Elena and I exchanged glances as we walked up to her. "What's wrong, Bonnie?"

"I have a feeling. A bad feeling. A feeling that this is only just the beginning." She said and Elena and I exchanged glances when she left.

Jenna finally came and picked us up. We headed over to my house and I grabbed a few things before we went back to Elena's house. Elena showed me to the guest bedroom and I unpacked my things. She went back to her room; we were all still shaken up about what happened tonight. Jeremy was downstairs on the couch. He wasn't doing well either. I held onto my locket as a strange feeling came over me. What Bonnie had said earlier, I had a feeling she was right.


	2. The Night of the Comet

I woke up to my alarm blaring. I groaned as I got out of bed. I stared around the room for a couple of minutes before I remembered that I wasn't at my house anymore; I was in Elena's guest bedroom. I hurry and got ready. When I walked out of my room, I saw Elena and Jenna talking outside Elena's room. "Do I look adult? As in respectfully parental?" Jenna asked.

"Depends where you're going." Elena said.

"Yeah." I said in agreement as I joined Elena's side.

"Jeremy's parent-teacher conference." Jenna said as she walked to the mirror in the hallway. "Hair up or down?" She asked as she looked at both options in the mirror.

"Sexy stewardess." Elena said when Jenna held her hair up.

"Boozy housewife." I said as Jenna put it back down. Elena giggled and Jenna smiled.

"Up it is." Jenna said and we all giggled. "You're feisty today." Jenna said more towards Elena, then she did to me.

"I feel good, which is rare. So I've decided to go with it." Elena said with a smile. "Fly free, walk on sunshine, and all that stuff."

"That's the spirit, Elena!" I said with a big smile.

"And you're extra cheerful this morning." Jenna commented to me.

"When is she not?" Elena said and we all laughed.

"Where's Jeremy?" I asked noticing there wasn't enough glum around here.

"He left early. Something about getting to wood shop early to finish a birdhouse or something." Elena and I exchanged looks. Even I knew Jeremy didn't do wood shop. "There is no woods shop, is there?" Jenna asked but already knew the answer.

"No," Elena and I shook heads at the same time.

"Yeah," Jenna said. We talked for a bit more as we all ate a quick breakfast. Bonnie came to pick Elena and I up and Jenna headed out to her parent-teacher conference meeting.

-0-

"Originally discovered nearly 5 centuries ago, it hasn't been over Mystic Falls in over 145 years. Now the comet will be its brightest after dusk during tomorrow's celebration…" Mr. Tanner was teaching us about the comet that was passing over tonight. Elena and Stefan stared at each other. It was the cutest thing ever. I smiled as I looked down at my notebook and started doodling again.

Mr. Tanner stopped. I guessed he finally noticed Elena and Stefan staring at each other. "Are we bothering you, Mr. Salvatore? Ms. Gilbert?"

I looked up from my notebook. Mr. Tanner was now looking at Elena and Stefan. I held back a chuckle as Elena shook her head 'no' obviously embarrassed. The bell rang, and everyone flooded out of class.

-0-

I was walking with Caroline and Bonnie. "I'm confused. Are you psychic or clairvoyant?" Caroline asked Bonnie.

"Technically, Grams says I'm a witch." Bonnie said. I couldn't help but giggle; her Grams said the craziest things sometimes. "My ancestors were these really cool Salem Witch chicks or something. Grams tried to explain it all but she was looped on the liquor. So I kind tuned out."

"Lemme guess, she talked about aliens next?" I said with a giggle.

Caroline and Bonnie laughed. "Crazy family, yes. Witches? I don't think so." Bonnie said.

"Yeah, well, feel free to conjure up the name and number of that guy from last night?" Caroline said all dreamily.

"Ohhhhhh, was he hot?" I asked. Caroline had told me earlier about what happened last night. She was at the Grill with Bonnie and when Bonnie left, Caroline saw a guy and she had swooned over him. Too bad for her though that she didn't get to talk to him.

"Yes! A million times yes!" Caroline said and she looked like she was in lala land.

Bonnie and I both laughed. "I didn't see him, you did. Why didn't you just talk to him?" Bonnie asked.

"I don't know; I was drunk." Caroline said.

"How unfortunate." I said all dramatic and all of us burst out laughing.

-0-

"Well I was talking to Grams, and she said the comet is a sign of impending doom. The last time it passed over Mystic Falls, there was lots of death. So much blood and carnage, it created a bed of paranormal activity." Bonnie said.

We were outside the Grill: and by we, I meant me, Caroline, Bonnie, and Elena. We were sitting at one of the outdoor tables. "Yeah, and then you poured Grams another shot and she told you about the aliens." Caroline said sarcastically. Bonnie rolled her eyes, obviously annoyed

"Ha! I knew there were aliens!" I said. Bonnie cracked a smile and Elena giggled, but Caroline just ignored me.

"So then what?" Caroline asked Elena, wanting to know how last night went. Elena had told me this morning. After I went up to bed, Stefan came over and they chatted most of the night away. I thought it was cute, but Caroline kept insisting that something else happened.

"So then nothing." Elena sighed.

"You and Stefan talked all night? There was no sloppy first kiss or touchy feeling of any kind?" Caroline asked.

"Nope, we didn't go there." Elena said looking down.

"Not even a handshake?" Caroline asked annoyed. Elena stayed silent. "I mean, Elena, we are your friends. Ok? You are supposed to share the smut."

"Please tell me there was no smut." I said. I was so not in the mood to hear smut. Maybe later, but definitely not now, especially considering they just met.

"We just talked for hours." Elena said.

"Ok, what is with the blockage?" Caroline's voice was now louder. "Just jump his bones already! Ok, it's easy. Boy likes girl, girl likes boy, sex." Bonnie and I exchanged weird glances but still paid attention.

"Profound." Elena said. Elena had thought of something for a second and her eyes widened. "Oh no." She said.

"What?" Caroline asked.

"The flyers you gave me, I left them in Stefan's bag." Elena said.

"Elena! Why are you remembering this now? We need to set up for the comet!" Caroline said looking like she was about to have a heart attack.

I laughed. "I'll go get them." I said smiling at how scared Elena was right now. "You three go set up."

"Thanks a ton, Maddie. You're a life saver!" Elena said. She quickly told me how to get to Stefan's house as I grabbed the keys to her car and took off.

-0-

I finally made my way to the boarding house: it was a lot bigger than I thought it was. I walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell, which was actually a bell. _Well, that's something you don't see everyday. _I smiled as I rang the bell. There was no answer, so I knocked and the door started to swing open. Although I had a feeling it was a bad idea, I had to get those flyers so Caroline wouldn't rip Elena's throat out so I ignored the feeling as I cautiously walked inside.

"Stefan," I called out. "Stefan, are you here?" I walked further inside and looked around. All the decorations were vintage and classy. "Stefan?" I asked again as I looked around. I heard a creak and I spun around; the door was wide open. I walked towards the door as a crow flew in past me. I turned around watching the crow and I jumped a little startled as I saw someone else right in front of me. "Um, hi." I said nervously. "I'm sorry for barging in but the door was…" I turned around to point at the door, only to see the door had closed. "Open." I finished in confusion. _That was weird. Wasn't that just open?_

I turned back around and faced the guy again. "You must be Maddie." He finally said.

I nodded. "That's me."

"I'm Damon, Stefan's brother." He said.

I was shocked. "He didn't say he had a brother."

Damon smirked. "Well, Stefan's not one to brag."

"Ah," I nodded. "And I'm guessing you are?"

"On occasion." Damon smirked. "Please, come. I'm sure Stefan will be along any second." He extended his hand to the living room and we both walked in.

"Wow," I said impressed as I looked around. "This is your living room?"

"Living room, parlor, sotheby's auction. It's a little kitschy for my taste." I was still looking around in awe. "So I assume you're new to town?" Damon asked.

I turned to look at him. "How did you know?"

"It's a small town; you know everyone." Damon said.

"Ah," was my only response.

"I'm glad to hear about Stefan and Elena though. Didn't think he would get over the last one. Nearly destroyed him." Damon said nodding.

"The last one?" I asked.

"Yeah, Katherine, his girlfriend?" He looked at my puzzled face when realization hit him. "Oh, they haven't had the awkward exes conversation yet, have they?"

"Not that I know of." I said.

"Oops. Well, I'm sure it'll come up now." Damon said looking away. _Crap, that's right. How was I supposed to tell Elena? I knew I couldn't keep it a secret from her. "_Oh, maybe he didn't want to tell her because he didn't want her to think he was on the rebound." He said looking at me.

"Really? That long?" I asked a little heartbroken; not for me, but for Elena. In fact, why was he telling me all this?

"Yeah, we all know how those relationships end." This caught me a little off guard.

"You say that like every relationship is doomed to fail." I said.

"I'm a fatalist," Damon smirked. _What the heck is a fatalist?! Geez I need to actually pay attention in English. _"Hello Stefan." Damon said without turning around. I looked over, and sure enough, there was Stefan glaring daggers at Damon.

"Maddie, I didn't know you were coming over." Stefan said still staring at Damon.

I walked towards him. "Yeah I should have texted. Elena said she left the flyers for the comet in your bag. I'm sorry to cause all this…" I began to say but I was interrupted by Damon.

"Oh, don't be silly! You're welcome any time; you and Elena. Aren't they Stefan?" Damon said but Stefan was still glaring at him. _Whoa, talk about family rivalry. _"You know, I should break out the family photo albums or some home movies next time you and Elena happen to stop by. But, I have to warn you. He wasn't always such a looker." _Okay! I'm getting uncomfortable here. _I smiled though because of the way he had said it.

"Thank you for stopping by, Maddie. The flyers are on the front counter. Nice to see you." Stefan said. I could feel the tension rising between both of them.

"Yeah, I should probably go. It was nice to meet you, Damon." I said looking at Damon.

"Great meeting you too, Maddie." Damon said as he grabbed my hand and kissed the top of it. I blushed a little as I looked at Stefan who was now glaring even harder at Damon.

I looked at Damon and gave him a small smile. "You too." I turned back to Stefan. "Bye Stefan." I walked past him and grabbed the flyers on my way out.

**Third Person POV **

Maddie closed the door and Stefan was still glaring daggers at Damon. Damon whistled. "Great gal." Damon smirked. "I like her; she's got spunk. You, on the other hand, look pooped. Did you over-exert yourself today? Let me guess—hospital."

"Someone had to clean up your mess." Stefan said as he walked into the living room.

"Were you successful? Did the powers of persuasion work? Remember, if you don't feed properly, none of those little tricks work right." Damon said in a singsong voice.

"How long was Maddie here, Damon?" Stefan asked.

"Were you worried Stefan? Are you scared we may be doomed to repeat the past? Or that I might eat her? Isn't that why you play your little game, 'I'm a high school human?'"

"I'm not playing any game." Stefan said.

"Of course you are." Damon said. "We both know the closest thing to your humanity is when you rip it open and feed on it."

"What kind of game are _you _playing, Damon?" Stefan asked.

"Guess you'll just have to wait and see, won't you? Though I am interested in that new girl, Maddie. Fascinating story. Family leaves her, all on her own. I'm sure no one will really miss her." Damon smirked.

"Damon, if you lay a hand on Maddie, or Elena…"

"Or what? You'll kill me? You lost that fight the minute you stopped drinking human blood." Damon said as he walked out, leaving Stefan alone in the living room.

-0-

**Maddie's POV**

"He's on the rebound and has raging family issues." I told Elena and Jenna. After I had gotten the flyers and Elena and I had returned home, I told Elena what happened at the boarding house. She looked heartbroken.

"Well, at least it's an ex-girlfriend. Wait til you date a guy with mommy issues or cheating issues or amphetamine issues." Jenna said as she was trying to comfort Elena.

Elena and I both nodded in agreement. We looked over as Jeremy walked in.

"Jeremy," Jenna began. Jeremy started to walk upstairs. "Jeremy, where were you?" Jenna kept saying as she followed him.

I looked over at her. "I'm sorry, Elena."

"No, don't be. I'm glad you told me. I needed to know." Elena said.

I nodded. We listened as Jenna was trying to give a lecture and failed. She looked at both of us and we just shrugged our shoulders and continued to cut up some fruit.

-0-

"Would you like a program?" I asked as I was handing out flyers for the comet. I was walking around Mystic Falls square by myself. Elena and Bonnie were on the other side, talking about what I told Elena. _I feel so bad for Elena. And what was with Damon telling me all that stuff? He obviously knew I would tell Elena about it. _I felt guilty now as I continued to hand out more flyers.

I saw Caroline walking towards the end of the square with her head held high and then stop dead in her tracks. She looked confused now. I walked up to her. "What's wrong, Caroline?" I asked.

"I thought I just saw…nevermind. You done handing out those flyers?" But I didn't get to answer her question as she just walked away. I felt like someone was watching me, but I brushed it off as I went back to what I was doing.

-0-

Everyone was lighting candles now. It was dark now and the comet was in sight. Bonnie lit mine, and I was lighting Caroline's. I looked over and saw Stefan and Elena talking. _I hope they make up. They are so cute together. _Caroline was talking about random stuff, but I wasn't really paying attention as I watched the comet go by. _That comet is all alone, yet it still flies through the sky like nothing is wrong. Hopefully that's how I will feel one day._

Elena walked up by me. "So, I broke it with Stefan."

I looked at her shocked. "You did what?"

"I broke it off, kinda. He's still on a rebound, and I can't deal with being a rebound."

"Elena," I began, but she walked off. _Great, that just made me fell so much better. _I thought sarcastically.

-0-

It was darker now and Vicki was missing again so everyone was looking for her. "Vicki!" I yelled over and over. I had been walked through town square, searched alleyways (I know, alleyways are dangerous, I just looked down them, sheesh!) and by the grill. "Vicki!" I screamed again. I started thinking to myself. _Ok, if I was a stoned teenage girl who just got attacked by a wild animal and was now drunk, where would I walk off to? _It was silent for a minute but then I heard someone scream. I looked up and saw some people on the building, but it was too dark that I couldn't make out who they were. But I yelled again just to check "Vicki, are you up there?"

"Help me!" Yup, that was Vicki. I ran around the building until I found some stairs to climb up. I started running up when I saw Vicki coming down.

"Vicki, are you okay?" I asked as she was walking down.

"Yeah, man. I took some pills, I'll be fine." The drugged Vicki said as she descended the staircase. She almost tripped but I helped her climb down so she didn't fall.

"Matt's out looking for you Vicki," I said when we got to the bottom.

"Yeah, I need to go home. Where is he?" Vicki asked looking like she was about to pass out.

I half dragged Vicki to the Grill. Matt was outside of the grill looking around still. "Matt!" I yelled.

"Vicki!" Matt said as he came running over and helped me with Vicki. "Let's take her inside."

"Okay," I said as we both carried Vicki into the Grill.

We set her down at one of the booths. Matt turned to me, "Where was she?"

"On the roof. I'm not sure what she was doing but she's drugged up bad." I responded.

"Thanks Maddie." Matt said and turned his attention towards Vicki's open wound.

I smiled as I heard Vicki say Stefan found her wandering around. _So that must have been who else was on the roof. _ I thought. I walked over to where Caroline and Bonnie were sitting.

"Uh, so much drama." Caroline said as I sat down, referring to Vicki. "Ever notice how the druggies are the biggest attention whores?"

"Yeah," Bonnie and I both said at the same time.

"Excuse me, um hi." It was Stefan. He had walked up to where we were sitting. "Have you guys seen Elena?"

"I think she went home." Bonnie said with a frown.

I turned to Bonnie. "She did what now? Now how am I supposed to get home?"

They all giggled. "Don't worry Maddie, I'll drop you off." Bonnie said.

"Thank goodness!" I exclaimed and everyone chuckled at my exaggeration.

Stefan started to walk away. "I'm gonna give you Elena's cell number and her email. She is big on texting, and you can tell her I said so." Bonnie said as she wrote out the information for Stefan.

"Thank you." Stefan said as he reached for the paper. When Bonnie's hand touched his, she went in a weird trance looking thing.

"You okay, Bonnie?" I asked looking at her concerned.

"What happened to you?" Bonnie asked Stefan and Stefan got a little uncomfortable. I exchanged a look with Caroline, but she just thought Bonnie was acting crazy. Bonnie realized what she had just said. "I'm sorry, that's so rude. Excuse me," She said and quickly left.

Stefan looked at me for an explanation but Caroline beat me to it. "Yeah, she kinda wigs out. It's like her thing."

"Yeah, what she said." I said. "I better catch up with her, she's my only ride home." I got up and ran to catch up with Bonnie.

-0-

Jenna was on edge when I got home. Elena told me she got Tannered, and I knew exactly what was going on. Mr. Tanner probably got after her about Jeremy and how she wasn't a good parent and blah blah blah blah blah. Tanner didn't even know what he was talking about. Jenna seemed like a good parent to me. It was just Jeremy was taking this depression thing way differently than he could have. I wish I was able to talk to him, but he just dodged me every time he saw me.

Elena had went over to talk to Stefan about earlier and Jenna and I stayed up Tanner bashing. It was actually a lot of fun. We talked about other things to until we were both exhausted. I walked upstairs and got ready for bed. Today was mostly a good day. I got into bed but immediately fell on the floor with a splitting headache. I kept hearing different voices, all scrambled, saying my name. Then as quickly as it came, it was gone. _Ugh! When are these going to end? _I thought as I got in bed. Little did I know, that this was just the beginning, and it was only get to get crazier from here.


	3. Friday Night Bites

"I'm not saying don't date the guy. I'm just saying take it slow." Bonnie said. I was with Bonnie and Elena. Bonnie gave me and Elena a ride to school and she didn't feel right about Stefan; it was her whole freak out thing from last night. We had arrived at school and were getting out of the car.

"You were the one who said to go for it." Elena said.

"She's right. You and Caroline." I said to Bonnie as well.

"Now I'm saying take it slow." Bonnie said.

Elena turned to me for an answer. "She had a weird freaky vision or something last night." I partially explained.

"It's not just that. You're single for the first time in your entire high school career. It's the perfect time to play the field." Bonnie said.

"Oh," Elena laughed. "Because I'm so that girl. Seriously, what are you not saying?"

"It's stupid."

"Bonnie…" Elena said and we all stopped walking. "Spit it out."

"Maddie's right. I accidentally touched Stefan and got a really bad feeling." Bonnie said. Elena and I both waited for her to continue but she didn't.

"Is that it?" I asked.

Bonnie went to walk away but Elena grabbed her hand and pulled her back. "Bonnie." Elena sighed.

"It was bad-bad!" Bonnie said with a concerned look.

"Is this the whole witch mojo thing again?" Elena sarcastically said with a smile.

"You know what, I'm just concerned. This is me expressing concern about my best friend's new boyfriend." Bonnie said.

Elena reached out and grabbed Bonnie's shoulders. "And I love you for it, I do. But I feel good." Elena said with a smile. "It's been a hard year, and I'm starting to kind of feel like things are getting back to normal again. And you know what, Stefan is a big part of that." Bonnie seemed to relax at this and we continued walking.

I stopped and put on a fake look of shock. "What about me? And I here I thought we were friends." I said pretending like I was going to cry.

Elena just nudged me to keep moving. "Shut up, Maddie." She said was a smile and we all laughed.

"So Maddie; you're still single, right?" Bonnie asked.

"Yup, last time I checked I was." I said.

"Anyone here you have a crush on? Gives you butterflies?" Elena said in a sing song voice as she nudged me.

"Tyler's pretty cute. And he seems really nice." I said but Elena and Bonnie had stopped walking and exchanged glances.

"Tyler?" The both said questioningly.

I turned around, saw the looks on their faces, and let out a laugh I had been holding in. "No, I'm totally lying! He's a class A jerk." I laughed. They breathed a sigh of relief and we all busted up laughing.

"Good morning Elena. Good morning Bonnie. Good morning Maddie." Stefan said as he came up to us.

"Hey, I got to find Caroline. She's not answering her phone. So I'll catch you guys later." Bonnie said and scurried away.

"Bonnie, wait…" Elena began but Bonnie ignored her as she walked away.

Elena looked at me. "I'll go talk to her." I said. "Good to see you, Stefan." I smiled and headed after Bonnie.

"Thanks." I heard Elena say and her and Stefan started talking as I ran to catch up with Bonnie.

"Bonnie," I began as I caught up with her.

"I'm sorry; he just gives me a really uneasy feeling." Bonnie said once I was next to her.

"I know, but he is Elena's boyfriend. Could you try at least to get to know him? For Elena's sake?" I asked.

"I can't make any promises." Bonnie said and then changed the subject. "Where's Caroline? I've been texting her all morning."

"I'm not sure. I called her, but she didn't pick up. Maybe she's reeling in her next victim." I said and Bonnie let out a giggle as we looked for our blonde friend.

-0-

"World War II ended in...?" Mr. Tanner was teaching us about World War II. I, of course, couldn't pay attention, so I started doodling in my notebook, paying just enough attention so that if he asked me a question, I hopefully could answer him. I was prepared for this one; I'm really good with numbers. "Anyone got anything?" Mr. Tanner asked. _Maybe it's a sign, if everyone in the class doesn't know, maybe you need to work on your teaching skills. _I smiled to myself as I thought about the great conversation Jenna and I would have later on the subject. "Miss Juan?" I looked over and the girl just shrugged.

"1945." I finally said, not really enjoying the silence.

I looked up and Mr. Tanner seemed impressed. "Good, Ms. Michaels, at least someone is reading the book." _Not really, I just knew that. I don't like reading that book; it's so boring to read._ "Pearl Harbor?" Tanner asked the whole class again. I looked over and noticed Elena and Stefan were whispering to each other about something. "Miss Gilbert?" Tanner asked.

"Hmm?" Elena asked, obviously not knowing what he asked.

"Pearl Harbor?" Tanner asked again.

"Umm…" Elena began; she had no clue.

"December 7th, 1941." Stefan answered. Elena sighed a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, Miss Gilbert." Tanner said and the whole class erupted in giggles.

"Anytime," Stefan said with a small chuckle.

"Very well. The fall of the Berlin Wall?" Tanner again asked the whole class.

"1989," Stefan said and Tanner had a surprised look on his face. "I'm good with dates, sir."

"Are you? How good? Keep it to the year…Civil Rights Act?"

"1954."

"John F. Kenendy assassination?"

"1963."

"Martin Luther King?"

"'68."

"Lincoln?"

"1865."

"Roe vs. Wade?"

"1973."

"Brown vs. Board?"

"1954."

"The battle of Gettysburg?"

"1863."

"Korean War?"

"1950 to 1953."

"Ha!" Tanner laughed. "It ended in '52." Tanner had made his way to Stefan's desk, but now was turning around to walk away. I had a disgusted look on my face. _Actually, it did end in 1953..._

"Uh, actually sir, it was '53." Stefan said.

Tanner narrowed his eyes at him before saying something to the whole class. "Look it up, somebody. Quickly!"

I already knew Stefan was right, but I decided to look it up anyways. Thanks to my talent and skills, I ended up opening to the right page. "it was 19…" I began. "53. I said with a smile. Everyone was clapping at Stefan and I smiled at the look of Tanner's face. But after a while, he let out a smile.

The bell rang and everyone was flooding the halls. I was walking with Elena and we both caught up to Stefan. "How did you know all of that?" Elena asked.

"Years and years of crossword puzzles." Stefan responded. "It's a loner thing." Elena and I exchanged glances and chuckled as we all headed to class.

-0-

It was time for cheerleading practice and I was stretching with Bonnie. She opened her mouth to ask something but I quickly answered. "No, I have not heard from Caroline." I said with a smile.

"I'm just worried." Bonnie clarified.

"I know, me too." I said and continued stretching.

"Oh my god! You're here!" Bonnie said as Elena approached us. She gave her a hug and I gave her a smile. I was still stretching my splits, but they were standing up as we talked to each other.

"Yep, I can't be sad girl forever. The only way to get things back to the way they were are to do things that were." Elena said as she started stretching. "Oh, and you're coming to dinner tonight."

"I am?" Bonnie asked as she started stretching again.

"Mm-hmm. You, me, Maddie, and Stefan." Bonnie gave her a look that said no.

"You have to give him a chance." I said to Bonnie.

"But tonight's no good." Bonnie said. Elena and I gave her a look that said 'yeah right.' "Have you seen Caroline? I texted her like a hundred times." Bonnie asked changing the subject.

"Don't change the subject, Bonnie Bennett." Elena said really worried. Still in my splits, I reached over and grabbed my phone and tried calling Caroline. "You're going to be there." Elena said to Bonnie.

"Fine, I'll go." Bonnie said in defeat.

I laughed and so did Elena. "Good." Elena said.

"Any luck?" Bonnie said, referring to me calling Caroline.

"No," I said as I tossed my phone. "Straight to voicemail. I'm sure she's fine, Bon."

"Seriously, though, where is Caroline?"

"I don't know. It's not like her." Elena said.

"I'm going to try her again." Bonnie said reaching for her phone.

I heard music playing. I turned around and saw a car pulled up. I saw Caroline in the passenger seat. "Uh," I began. "I think I found her." Elena and Bonnie flipped their heads around and we saw Caroline kiss none other than Damon.

"That must be the mystery guy from the Grill." Bonnie said.

"That's no mystery guy. That's Damon Salvatore, Stefan's brother." I said to both of them as we all stood up.

"Stefan has a brother?" Bonnie asked.

"Long story, we'll tell you later." Elena said. Caroline got out of the car and Damon's eyes met mine. He smirked and gave me a wink before he drove off. _What the heck was that for? _Caroline walked over with sunglasses and a scarf on as well as her practice gear.

"I got the other brother. Hope you don't mind." Caroline said smugly to Elena. I rolled my eyes. _Is everything a competition for Caroline?_ "Sorry I'm late, girls. I, uh, was busy. All right, let's start with the double pike herkey hurdler. What do you say?"

"I say let's do it!" I smiled.

"That's the spirit I'm looking for!" Caroline smiled as everyone got in some lines so we could practice our jumps routine. When I joined the team, I went over to Caroline's house and she taught me all the routines. She was impressed that I got on so fast and put me in the front row. "5, 6, 7, 8. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8." I saw Elena was struggling a little today. Caroline stopped counting but everyone else kept going. "Elena, sweetie, why don't you just observe today? 'K?" Elena looked annoyed and walked out of the lines. "Keep going! Ok. Do it again, let's go. Do it again from the top! How is it that I just taught these to Maddie a few days ago and she's sharper than all of you? Let's pick it up girls! And 5, 6, 7, 8. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8." We continued and I did the routine as I drowned out Caroline's voice.

The rest of practice was pretty much the same. We just went over all of our routines and we stunted a bit. Caroline placed me as a backspot for one of the pyramids and a flyer for ones where they needed more flexible girls. I thought it was a lot of fun and I couldn't wait for our first game.

-0-

"You two explain it. Last night I'm watching 'nine-o,' a commercial break comes on, and I'm like 'I bet it's that phone commercial!' and sure enough, it's that guy and the girl with the bench, he flies to Paris and he flies back. They take a picture." Bonnie began saying. We were getting ready for our little dinner party and Bonnie was going on again about her psychic abilities.

"Oh come on," Elena said. "That commercial's on a constant loop."

"Yeah," I said. "I don't even watch TV and I've seen that commercial."

"Fine." Bonnie said. "Well, how about this? Today, I'm obsessed with numbers. Three numbers. I keep seeing 8, 14, and 22. How weird is that?"

Elena and I exchanged glances. I turned to Bonnie with a serious look on my face. "Maybe we should play the lottery." Bonnie just gave me a look and we all burst out laughing.

"Have you talked to your Grams?" Elena asked.

"She's just going to say it's because I'm a witch. I don't want to be a witch. Do you want to be a witch?" I opened my mouth to say yes but Bonnie added. "Maddie, don't answer that." And Elena chuckled at that.

"I don't want to be a witch." Elena said answering the question.

"And putting it in a nice bowl isn't fooling anybody." Bonnie said and I laughed. I told Elena I would help her make something, but she insisted on ordering take out.

"Ok, serving spoons. Where are the serving spoons?" Elena asked and I went to look.

"Middle drawer on your left." Bonnie said to me. I opened the drawer, and sure enough, that's where they were. Bonnie gave us a look that said 'see?'

"Ok, so you've been in this kitchen like a thousand times." Elena said and I brought the spoons over.

"Yeah, that's it." Bonnie said obviously not buying it.

The doorbell rang. "Ok, he's here." Elena said. "Don't be nervous. Just be your normal, loving self."

"Normal, loving, unjudgy self." I corrected. Bonnie still looked worried and I placed my hand on her shoulder comfortingly as Elena went to answer the door.

Bonnie thought for a minute. "Birthday candles." She said.

"What?" I asked and she opened the drawer and a little box of birthday candles were inside. We exchanged glances and then she just shook her head as she closed the drawer.

-0-

We were all sitting down eating the dinner we 'prepared.' It was very silent. Too silent for comfort. "So Elena told me you decided to join the football team. Did Tanner give you a hard time?" I asked breaking the silence.

"Well, he let me on the team, so I must have done something right." Stefan said and Elena and I chuckled.

"Bonnie, you should have seen Stefan today," Elena began. "Tyler threw a ball right at him, and…"

"Uh, yeah I heard. Maddie told me." Bonnie said. Elena had told me earlier today at lunch and I told Bonnie about it at practice.

The smiles fell from both of our faces. There was an awkward silence again. "Why don't you tell Stefan about your family?" Elena said to Bonnie.

"Um, divorced. No mom. Live with my dad." Stefan nodded.

"No, Bonnie, I think Elena meant about the witches." This caught Stefan's attention when I said this.

"Bonnie's family has a lineage of witches. It's really cool." Elena urged to Bonnie.

"Cool isn't the word I would use." Bonnie said.

"Cool is definitely the word I would use!" I exclaimed. Bonnie just ignored me and Elena shook her head and smiled.

"Well, it's certainly interesting. I'm not too versed, but I do know that there's a history of celtic druids that migrated here in the 1800s." Stefan said, obviously trying to start a conversation with Bonnie.

"My family came by way of Salem." Bonnie said.

"Really?" Stefan said. He was very interested in their conversation. Bonnie just gave a smile and a nod. "Salem witches?"

"Yeah," Bonnie chuckled.

"I would say that's pretty cool." Stefan said as he glanced at me.

"See? Didn't I tell you?" I said with a smile on my face. Elena giggled.

"Really? Why?" Bonnie asked, ignoring my comment.

"Salem witches are heroic examples of individualism and non-conformity." Stefan said.

Bonnie smiled. "Yeah, they are." She said. _Yay! It's working! _

"Ok, can you teach our history class?" I said to Stefan. "Because I actually can learn something when you say it." Everyone laughed. Seems like things were starting to loosen up. The doorbell rang...again.

"I wonder who that could be." I said.

"I dunno, lemme go check." Elena said and she went to answer the door.

"Surprise!" I heard Caroline say when Elena opened the door. I looked over and I saw Caroline and Damon at the door. _Great. What are they doing here? _Not that I disliked Caroline or anything, but Damon kinda bugged me. "Bonnie said you were doing dinner, so we brought dessert."

My ears perked up. _Did someone say, dessert? _"Oh, in that case, bring it in!" I exclaimed and Bonnie just chuckled at my excitement.

"Hope you don't mind." I heard Damon say. Stefan got up and walked to the door.

"What are you doing here?" Stefan asked Damon once he reached the front door.

"Waiting for Elena to invite me in." Damon said

"Oh yeah, you can just…" Elena began.

"No, no, no. He can't, uhm, he can't stay." Stefan said. Bonnie gave me a look and I whispered 'sibling rivalry' and she just made an 'oh' sound. "Can you, Damon." Stefan finished.

"Get in here." Caroline said obviously getting impatient.

"We're just finishing up." Stefan said.

"It's fine. Just come on in." Elena said.

"Hey Maddie," Caroline called me over and she held out the cake. "Would you like to cut this up?" she asked.

I took the cake from her. "I would love to." I said with a big smile. Caroline smiled back and I looked over at Damon. He just did his famous smirk and I took the cake into the kitchen and just shrugged it off.

"You have a beautiful home, Elena." I heard Damon say.

"Thank you." Elena said.

Everyone joined back up in the living room by the kitchen and were sitting on the couch while I was bringing out plates for everyone. "I cannot believe that Mr. Tanner let you on the team. Oh, Tyler must be seething." Caroline said.

"Oh I hope so!" I said and that caused Caroline to laugh and everyone else to smile.

"But good for you, go for it." Caroline said.

"That's what I always tell him. You have to engage. You can't just sit there and wait for life to come to you. You have to go get it." Damon said and I handed him his slice. "Thank you." He said to me and I just smiled as I grabbed my piece and sat next to Bonnie.

"Yeah, Elena wasn't so lucky today. It's only because you missed summer camp." Caroline said trying to reassure her. "But Maddie, you were a quick learner. Maybe you could help Elena learn the routines, but I don't know if she'll be able to learn them quick enough." Caroline said. _Was she trying to kick Elena off the team?_

"Don't worry, I'll work with her. She'll get it." I said.

"I guess we can put her in the back." Caroline said to herself. Elena just gave her an annoyed look. _What is Caroline's deal today? _

"You don't seem like the cheerleader type, Elena." Damon said.

"Oh, it's just 'cause her parents died. Yeah I mean she's just totally going through a blah phase. She used to be way more fun. Just look at Maddie, she doesn't have any parents and she's a lot of fun." I almost chocked on my drink _What the crap, Caroline?_ _And you used to be way more nice. _Obviously Bonnie was also picking up on this because she was glaring at Caroline as well. Bonnie reached over and squeezed my hand, trying to distract me from saying something I would regret later. "And I say that with complete sensitivity." Caroline said directing it at both of us. I internally rolled my eyes.

"I know what it's like to lose both your parents, Maddie and Elena. In fact, Stefan and I have watched almost every single person we've ever cared about die." Damon said.

"We don't need to get into that right now, Damon." Stefan said.

"Ah, you know what, you're right, Stef. I'm sorry. The last thing I wanted to do was bring her up." Damon said. I had to hold back rolling my eyes. _Well, you didn't do a very good job. _

It was silent for a little while and I excused myself to go back to the kitchen to wash the dishes. "One more." Damon said as he brought in another glass.

"Oh, thank you." I said as I reached out to grab it but I accidentally dropped it and Damon grabbed it without ease.

I laughed as he held it out again. "Impressive." I said taking the glass from him.

"I like you. You know how to laugh and you're always just bubbling with excitement." I blushed a little bit but luckily he didn't see. "And you, and Elena, make Stefan smile, which is something I haven't seen in a very long time."

"Earlier when we were talking, you were talking about Katherine, weren't you?" I asked but it was more of a statement as I was putting a plate in the dishwasher, which Damon took from me and placed it in.

"Mm-hmm."

"How did she die?" I asked.

"In a fire. Tragic fire."

"Recently?"

"Well, it seems like it was yesterday."

"What was she like?" I asked.

"She was beautiful, a lot like you and Elena in that department. She was just very complicated. And selfish, and at times not very kind but very sexy and seductive." Damon said with a smirk.

"So which one of you dated her first?" I said handing him another plate.

Damon chuckled. "Nicely deduced. Ask Stefan. I'm sure his answer differs from mine." He placed the last dish in the dishwasher and closed it.

"I'm sorry." I began. Damon looked a little confused. "About Katherine" Damon looked a little taken aback at this. "You lost her, too." He looked a little sad, and I would be to if the guy I dated had just died.

"Hey," I heard Bonnie say and we both turned to look at her and Elena walking in.

"Need some help?" Elena asked.

I looked over at the table where the dish towels were, Damon followed my gaze and we both smiled. "Sure, why not." Damon said.

We were cleaning up for a bit when Damon said he was going to go talk to his brother. After he left, I told Elena and Bonnie what Damon said.

"Oh no, that's horrible." Elena said.

"And that makes a lot of sense." Bonnie said, referring about both of them dating Katherine.

"Yeah, it does." I said.

Caroline walked in. "You guys need an extra hand?"

"Sure." I said, but I was still a little upset over how Caroline was acting earlier. I looked over and it seemed Bonnie and Elena felt the same.

-0-

I heard the doorbell ring. I ran downstairs to answer it. When I opened the door, Damon was standing there. "Oh, hi Damon."

"Hello, Maddie." Damon said with a grin on his face.

I was about to ask why he was here but then I heard Elena shout, "Hey Maddie, where did you put the curling iron?"

I turned around and yelled upstairs, "In the cabinet by the sink." I turned around and Damon was gone.

I walked outside, "Damon?" I yelled as I looked around and I heard the door shut behind me. I whirled around and I saw Damon, but his face had changed; he had his veins popping out and his eyes had turned red. He came at me and bit me. I screamed and woke up in my bed panting. I was sweating all over. Why was I having these nightmares? I got up to splash some water on my face before I went back to bed; not noticing the crow by my windowsill.

-0-

I had taken a shower when I woke up in the morning. I came back in my room with two towels wrapped around my hair and body. I had laid out my cheerleading uniform before I had gotten in the shower. I saw it on the bed and smiled. _Who would have thought all of this happened, just because my locker happened to be next to Bonnie, Elena, and Caroline's. _I brushed through my straight hair, put some light makeup and my uniform on, and headed to school with Elena.

-0-

I was with Caroline before the game had started. We were talking about the routines and some possible stunts we could try out during practice. Elena had told me earlier that she had quit the team, but I'm guessing she didn't tell Caroline because when Caroline didn't see Elena in uniform, let's just say mad doesn't really cover it. I followed Caroline as we both approached Elena.

"And you're not in uniform, because…?" Caroline asked with a snarky tone. I could tell this wasn't going to go well.

"Uhm, because I'm quitting." Elena said.

"And you didn't think to ask me first?"

"It's not your decision, Caroline." Elena said.

"Well, I was going to kick you off anyways." Caroline said and walked away.

Elena turned to me. "What's her deal?"

"You've known her longer, you tell me. When I first met her, she was nice and fun, but now…" I trailed off.

"She's a control freak?"

"Yeah, I think that's the nicest way to put it." I said and Elena laughed. We still had an hour before the game started so Elena and I were walking around talking about random things. We later gathered by the bonfire and everyone was going crazy. I was standing next to Elena and Bonnie as we all went wild, excited for the game to start.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Now let's be honest here." Tanner said. He was standing at the podium. "In the past, we used to let other teams come into our town and roll right over us!" Everyone started to boo. "But that is about to change." Everyone started cheering. "We've got some great new talent starting tonight on the offensive line, and I'm going to tell you right now, it has been a long time since I have seen a kid like this with hands like these." Tanner was referring to Stefan and all of the students went wild. "Let's give it up for Stefan Salvatore!" Everyone was cheering him on. Tanner finished his pep talk and we kept cheering .

All of the sudden, a fight between Tyler and Jeremy broke out. Elena, Stefan, and I saw it and Stefan ran over and pulled Tyler off of Jeremy. Stefan was holding Tyler and Jeremy reached down and grabbed a glass and was about to hit Tyler with it.

"Jeremy, no!" Elena and I both screamed. Stefan pushed Tyler out of the way and lifted his hand to defend the blow as Jeremy hit the glass against Stefan.

Elena ran up to Jeremy, "What the hell, Jeremy? Put your head up, you're bleeding." While Elena was helping Jeremy, I ran over to Stefan.

"Stefan are you okay? How bad are you hurt?" I asked as I reached for Stefan's hand.

"No, no, no. It's fine." Stefan said as he pulled his hand away.

Elena walked over to us as well. "Is it deep? How bad is it?" I asked and Elena grabbed his hand. Elena and I were both shocked; his hand, there wasn't even a scratch.

"But…" Elena began.

"He missed. It's not my blood." Stefan said.

"But, we saw it. The glass hit your hand." I said.

"It's ok. I'm ok. It's almost kick-off time, all right? So, um, I'll, uh, I'll see you both after the game." Stefan said as he left.

Elena and I exchanged glances. We didn't know what to think. "Maybe, what Bonnie saw about Stefan a couple of nights ago, could help us out with what just happened." I suggested.

"I was about to say the same thing." Elena and I both walked up to Bonnie, but Caroline stopped me. I gave a look to Elena that said 'go' and she went to talk to Bonnie.

"Hey, you need to take that necklace off." Caroline said after Elena left.

I looked down at my locket. I never took it off. "Why?" I asked.

"Safety hazard. It could get caught while we're stunting. I need all of my flyers safe." Caroline said.

"Oh, yeah of course. I'll just go grab my jacket and I'll be right back." I said.

Caroline smiled. "Okay, hurry though. The game is about to start."

I nodded and headed out to the car. I opened the trunk and grabbed my jacket. I closed it and turned around and I saw Damon. I jumped a little. "Oh, you scared me. What are you doing here?" I asked.

Damon looked around and then back to me as he said in a whisper. "I'm hiding from Caroline."

"And why is that?" I whispered.

"I needed a break." Damon said a little bit louder. "She talks more than I can listen."

"Yup, well that's Caroline for you. Or maybe it's a sign." I said.

"Well, she's awfully young." Damon said.

"Not much younger than you are." I said back. _What does he mean by that? Is he, like, 30 or something? Gross! _

He chuckled. "I don't see it going anywhere in the bigger picture. I think she'd drive me crazy."

"Caroline does have some really annoying traits, but she's been a good friend to me since I arrived and that means something to me." I said really annoyed.

"Duly noted. I'm sorry if I make you uncomfortable. That's not my intention." Damon said innocently.

"That's so your intention. Otherwise you wouldn't put an alternate meaning behind everything you say."

Damon smirked. "You're right. I do have other intentions, but so do you."

"Really? Enlighten me." I said sarcastically.

"I see 'em. You want me."

I laughed. "Excuse me?"

"I get to you. You find yourself drawn to me. You think about me even if you don't want to think about me. I bet you even dreamed about me." My body stiffened as I remembered the dream I had last night. "And right now, you want to kiss me."

He smirked as he leaned in and I slapped him across the face. "What is wrong with you?! I don't know what game you're trying to play with Stefan here, but I don't want to be part of it. And I don't know what happened in the past, but let's get one thing straight, I am not Katherine, and neither is Elena." I said as I stormed off.

I was rushing back to where the cheerleading squad was when I accidentally ran into Stefan. "Oh, sorry Stefan."

He looked at me concerned. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just, I mean your brother just…"I began.

"Damon's here?" he asked surprised.

"Yeah, and…nevermind."

"That's a beautiful locket." Stefan said and I looked down at my locket. _Oh crap, I still need to take this off. _

"Thanks. My older brother gave it to me." I said as I took it off.

"Can I see?"

"Yeah." I said and handed him the locket. He got a weird look on his face. "It doesn't open?"

"No. I have pictures in there and stuff, but I think something got jammed. I don't want to break the latch so I'm just leaving it be."

"Well," he said handing it back to me. "It's still beautiful." He smiled.

I smiled back. "Thanks. I better go. Caroline's going to throw a fit if I'm not in my line." I waved goodbye to Stefan and ran over to where the cheerleaders were as I put my locket in my jacket pocket and sat my jacket next to my bag. _Puttin' the locket in my pocket. _I said to myself and smiled because I'm just that hilarious.

**Third Person POV**

"Good luck tonight. We're lucky to have you." Matt said as he and Stefan shook hands. Matt had apologized to Stefan on his behavior, but Stefan had his mind on something else. _Maddie had vervain stuffed in her necklace. I don't think she knows, but her parents probably did. Poor Maddie. She's all alone. But at least she's happy with her friends. _Stefan thought. He liked Maddie, but more of in a brotherly way. He was glad that she was protected from compulsion. Hopefully that might stop Damon from messing with her.

His thoughts were interrupted by clapping from behind him. He turned around and saw Damon leaning up against the side of the building. "Isn't that nice? Stefan joins a team, makes a friends. It's all so, 'rah, rah, go team, yay!'"

"Not tonight." Stefan said. "I'm done with you." He turned to walk off but Damon flashed right in front of him.

"Nice trick with Maddie." Damon said. Stefan guessed he was referring to the vervain stuck in her locket. He figured he would play along; if he confessed he didn't do it, he would probably go after Maddie to find answers. "Let me guess—vervain in her locket? I'm also guessing you've done the same with Elena. I admit, I was a bit surprised. It's been a while since anyone could resist my compulsion." _That's probably what Maddie was trying to tell me earlier, _Stefan thought. "Where'd you get it?"

"Does it matter?" Stefan asked as he walked around Damon.

"Guess I could just seduce her the old-fashioned way. Or I could just…eat her."

This caused Stefan to stop and turn to look back at Damon. "No. You're not going to hurt her, Damon. Or Elena, for that matter." Stefan said as he walked toward Damon.

"No?"

"Because deep down inside there is a part of you that feels for Maddie. She's happy with life, even though she had lost so much. I was worried that you had no humanity left inside of you that you may actually become the monster that you pretend to be."

"Who's pretending?" Damon asked interested in what Stefan was saying.

"Then kill me."

"Well I'm—I'm tempted." Damon said thinking about it.

"No, you're not. You've had lifetimes to do it, and yet, here I am. I'm still alive. And there you are. You're still haunting me. After 145 years. Katherine is dead." Damon swallowed uncomfortably. "And you hate me because you loved her, and you torture me because you still do. And that, my brother, that is your humanity." Stefan said and Damon just smirked.

"Salvatore!" Tanner yelled. "What the hell? We've got a game to play!"

"If that's my humanity…" Damon began. "Then what's this?" Damon smirked as he flashed up to Tanner and bit him on the neck: feeding.

"No!" Stefan yelled. But Damon kept going until Tanner fell on the ground: dead.

"Anyone, any time, any place." Damon said and Stefan looked at him with disbelief.

**Maddie's POV**

Well, let's just say the game was cancelled tonight; Tanner had gotten attacked by a wild animal. I was by Bonnie as we watched Tanner being hauled away. She had a strange look on her face. "Bonnie, are you okay?" I asked.

"8." She said.

I looked over to where she was looking and saw the 'BLDG 8.' "What do you mean?"

"Those numbers I keep seeing? 8, 14, and 22." She said.

I finally caught on to what she was saying. She kept looking around, and she looked like she was getting sick. I looked over and saw what she was staring at. The license plate on the ambulance read 'FHT 14.' I looked a little to the right and saw 22 written as a parking lot number.

I looked at Bonnie and she saw the same thing. She gasped and I pulled her into a hug. She just cried into my shoulder. "What's happening to me?" she cried.

"I don't know." I said as I hugged her. "I don't know."

Bonnie's Grams came about five minutes later. Bonnie was still crying. "Thank you dear, for being there for her." Grams said to me.

"Yeah, of course. Anytime." I said as Bonnie got in the car.

"Never take that locket of yours off. It's the key." Grams said. She drove off and I was confused. I pulled to locket out of my jacket. _What does she mean? And how did she know about my locket? _I put my locket back on, found Elena, and we drove home.

-0-

**Third Person POV**

Maddie was sound asleep on her bed. Damon had come in and watched her. She looked so peaceful. He reached down and touched the side of her cheek with the back of his hand. She stirred a bit and Damon flashed out by the window. Maddie woke up. She sat up in her bed for a few seconds, then reached down to hold her locket. He saw the look of sadness in her eyes, but he didn't see her shed a tear. Come to think of it, he never saw her cry once. She was always so happy. How could you be so happy and positive after everything that had happened to you? Damon shrugged off this feeling and he sped back to the boarding house. Maddie leaned over to the side and shut the lamp off and fell back asleep.


	4. Family Ties

I woke up to a rattling sound. I hurry and got up to see where the sound was coming from. I walked out of my room. Elena must have heard the sound too because she was outside her room as well. "Hello?" Elena asked.

"SHHHHH! You don't just ask 'hello' randomly if you don't know who it is. Have you learned nothing from movies?" I whispered.

"Just calm down, Maddie. It could be Jeremy." Elena whispered back. "Jeremy?" She asked louder. She looked over the banister.

"Go check his room, I'll go look downstairs." I said as I headed down the stairs. I saw a shadow before I reached the bottom and hesitated before continuing. I walked into the darkened kitchen. "Jer, is that you?" I asked as I tried to flip on the lights. They weren't working. _Great. Just great. _

"This is Logan Fell coming to you live from the streets of Mystic Falls with breaking news of another deadly animal attack." I turned to see the TV was on. Interested in what was being said, I walked up to it to get a better look. "The wild animal terrorizing the citizens of Mystic Falls has claimed another victim, local high school student Maddie Michaels. Police are certain that forensic evidence will confirm that this is the same animal responsible for recent attacks." I stared hard at the screen as a picture of me was pulled up. I didn't know what was going on. I'm not dead!

I heard Elena scream, followed by a thud. My eyes widened as I turned around and ran to the front hallway. "Elena!" I screamed, but stopped dead in my tracks. Elena was lying on the ground: dead. I could feel myself start to cry.

"You know it's coming next." I heard Damon say. I turned around and saw Damon in the kitchen. I turned back around, ran around Elena's lifeless body, and dashed for the front door. I opened it and Damon was standing right in the doorway. Screaming, I slammed it shut and turned back around. Damon was standing over Elena's dead body. I started to panic as I closed my eyes saying the word 'no' over and over again.

I finally got up the courage to open my eyes and he was no longer there, neither was Elena. Confused, I started to walk towards the staircase, when Damon grabbed me from behind and bit into my neck. I screamed.

-0-

Stefan woke up with a gasp. He was sweating and breathing heavily. He was the one who had had that dream about Maddie and Elena. He sat up in his bed and saw Damon sitting at his desk. "Bad dream?" Damon asked. Stefan only gasped in reply. "Do you know how easy it was to get into your head just now? You really need some human blood. It might even the playing field." Damon chuckled. "Football reference. Too soon?" Stefan flashed across the room, grabbed a knife, and threw it at Damon's chest. Damon just looked down at the knife and stood up while he took it out. "All right, I deserved that. But I just wanted to let you know, they caught the culprit. The animal responsible for killing coach Tanner and all those people."

"What are you talking about?" Stefan asked.

"It was a mountain lion. Really big one. It attacked a hunter this morning. It's all over the news. 'Dangerous Beast Captured: All's Well in Mystic Falls.'"

"Why would you cover your tracks?"

"I've decided to stay awhile. I'm just having way too much fun here with you, Elena, and Maddie." Damon smirked when he mentioned Maddie.

"Can't touch them now."

"Well, the vervain keeps me out of their heads. Maybe that's not my target. Believe it or not, Stefan, some girls don't need my persuasion. Some girls just can't resist my good looks, my style and my charm, and my unflinching ability to listen to Taylor Swift." Damon stabbed Stefan with the knife. Stefan groaned in pain. "This is John Varvatos, dude. Dick move." And with that, Damon walked out of the room.

-0-

**Maddie's POV **

"Scum ball. Scum bucket." I heard Jenna say as I walked into the kitchen.

"Who are you talking to?" I asked.

"Him." Jenna said nodding toward the TV like it was obvious.

"You know he can't hear you right, the news guy?"

"Also known as Logan 'Scum' Fell." Jenna said.

"Ah, the reason you moved away from Mystic Falls." Elena said as she entered the kitchen.

"Exactly." Jenna said.

"No way! You and him?" I asked surprised.

"He's kinda cute." Elena said with a smirk.

"No, he is not cute! There is nothing cute about him!" Jenna said turning off the TV. "What's that?" Jenna asked Elena.

"It's something from my mom's deposit box. Some of her old stuff. I told Mrs. Lockwood I would loan it to the founder's council for their heritage display." Elena was explaining to Jenna about all of her mom and dad's old stuff. Elena and I went to get it yesterday and she told me about it. Jeremy came down and was upset about Elena loaning their mom and dad's stuff when the doorbell rang. I gave Elena a knowing smile and she just smiled back. I knew it was Stefan so Elena went and answered the door.

After Stefan came in, him and Elena went up to Elena's room and were making out. I know right? Gross! But I was happy that Elena was happy. I was sitting in my room catching up on some homework. It had been a busy last couple of days. I hadn't had any migraines so I was happy about that. But the only thing that really bugged me was what Bonnie's Grams told me about my locket being the key. The key to what exactly? I had rattled my brain around trying to figure out what she meant. And how she knew I had a locket was the even bigger question I still couldn't figure out.

Elena ran into my room. "Guess who is going to the founders party?"

"I knew Stefan would go with you." I smiled back. Considering Elena ran in excited, I guessed that Stefan was probably downstairs talking to Jenna.

"Now we just need to find you a date." She smiled.

"No, I don't need a date. I'm going with Caroline and Bonnie. Oh, speaking of Caroline and Bonnie, I have to meet them at the Grill. Catch you later." I waved at Elena and she waved goodbye.

-0-

"You're taking Damon to the founder's party? What about us?" Bonnie asked. I was at the Grill and Caroline was telling Bonnie and me about her taking Damon to the party. I didn't tell Caroline what happened in the parking lot the other night with Damon and me. Although I probably should, I just needed to wait until the right time to tell her.

"Why can't the both of you just go together without me?" Caroline asked as we sat down.

"Don't worry Bonnie. We'll have a blast without her." I said.

"You got that right!" Bonnie responded then asked Caroline, "What about your mom? Is she okay with you bringing Damon?"

"And I'm supposed to care why?"

"He's older sexy danger guy." Bonnie said.

"Older sexy danger guy? Is that an official witch twitter tweet?" Caroline questioned.

"No more witch jokes, ok? That whole Mr. Tanner prediction thing has me freaked.

"Ok." Caroline said under her breath. "Hey Maddie, can you go order for us."

"Um, sure." I said and I left to go order us some fries. Caroline and Bonnie were still talking when I looked over. Bonnie gave me a look that told me to stay put, so I was guessing Caroline was telling her something I wasn't allowed to know. But I was sure Bonnie would tell me later anyways, so I just waited. _Why does Caroline not want me to know what she's telling Bonnie? She sure has been acting strange lately. But seriously? Keeping secrets? _I thought about what happened with Damon the other night. _I guess I'm not that much better than she is._

-0-

Bonnie drove me back with her to Elena's house. I kept asking her what Caroline said to her that she didn't want me to hear, but she kept telling me she would tell me at the house. We were sitting in the kitchen and Elena gave the box of stuff to Tyler. "Delicate flower vs. naughty vixen." Bonnie said.

"Tough call. Can we mix them?" Elena asked.

"Look at you getting all pretty for your date." I said.

"You seem happy." Bonnie said to Elena.

"I am…ish. Tonight's going to be a good night. But don't let that stop you from telling me whatever it is you wanted to tell me as soon as you walked in the door." Elena said.

"Yeah, you told me you would tell me why Caroline was being so secretive at the Grill when we got here." I said.

"What if I tell you both in the morning? I don't want to ruin the night." Bonnie said.

Elena and I exchanged looks. Elena grabbed some light pink nail polish. "Bonnie, out with it." I said.

"Ok, but it has to go in the vault, because Caroline will kill me if it gets back to Damon that she squealed." Elena and I both nodded. "Apparently Stefan has a very interesting back story. Do you know what happened with his ex-girlfriend Katherine?"

"I know that she died..." Elena started.

"And they both dated her and that's why they both have issues." I finished.

"Yeah, they both dated her, only she chose Damon. And that drove Stefan mad, so he did horrible things to try and break them up. He manipulated Katherine. He filled her head with all these lies until finally it worked, and she turned against Damon." Bonnie said.

"Wait, Stefan? Like nice, loving, cares about others Stefan?" I asked.

"That sounds like one person's side of the story, meaning Damon's." Elena said.

"I just wanted you two to know." Bonnie said.

"Wait, so is that the only reason why Caroline had me leave? And if so, why didn't she spill to me as well?" I asked.

"She knew you would tell Elena because you two have grown really close." Bonnie said.

I made an 'ah' sound and then Elena spoke up. "Anyway, his past relationships are none of my business."

"Unless he's a calculating, manipulative liar. That is your business." Bonnie said as she started painting her nails.

"Stefan is none of those things." Elena said.

"Yeah? How do you know?" Bonnie asked.

Elena was silent, so I spoke up. "I don't really think we should trust Damon. He's the manipulative one."

"Why do you say that?" Elena said.

I bit my bottom lip. I needed to tell them. "The other night, at the football game, Damon was sort of hitting on me, I guess."

"Wait what?" Bonnie asked in surprise.

"Why didn't you tell us this? Spill!" Elena said.

"Well at first he started saying all these weird things about me being drawn to him, and how he saw his relationship with Caroline wasn't going anywhere, and how I am always thinking about him, and then he tried to kiss me." I tried to say nonchalantly as I painted my nails with the silver nail polish.

Their eyes both widened in surprise. "Why didn't you tell us this sooner? Are you going to tell Caroline?" Elena asked.

"Yeah and what did you do?" Bonnie asked.

"I slapped him across the face. No way does he get to treat Caroline like that! Plus, I'm probably going to tell her tonight; I just need the right time to tell her, you know? I mean, it's Caroline. Timing is everything with her." They both nodded at my statement. "And for not telling you. I'm really sorry and I've wanted to tell you both but I just didn't know when. I promise, from now on, I will always give you the play-by-play right after it happens." I said.

"Don't worry, we forgive you." Bonnie chuckled as she saw that I was extremely worried.

"And as for Damon, what a tool!" Elena said

"But Bonnie's right, Elena. I'm glad Stefan makes you happy and everything, but part of Damon's story could be true. But from what I have seen with Damon, it could all be false. We have to play it by ear." I said.

Elena just nodded. I felt uncomfortable about the silence so I changed the subject. We were all laughing by the time we had finished painting our nails.

-0-

Elena, Bonnie, and I were getting ready and the music was up loud as we got ready. I came out of the bathroom and Elena looked angry. "What's wrong." I asked.

"You'll see." Elena answered as she stomped into Jeremy's room. Bonnie and I exchanged looks but we listened to what Elena was saying. Elena knocked off Jeremy's headphones. "The pocket watch, where is it?"

"Oh, I see," I said as I turned to Bonnie.

"What?" She asked.

"Jeremy was upset earlier about giving away their mom and dad's stuff, so he probably took something that his dad gave him, which I'm guessing is the pocket watch." I said.

Bonnie looked surprised. "Wow, Maddie. You're very observant today."

"Hey!" I gave her a friendly punch. "I'm observant when I wanna be."

Elena walked out with a sad look on her face. I walked into Jeremy's room. I knocked on the door until he saw me. "What do you want?" Jeremy asked.

"I'm sorry. I know how you feel about that watch. It was your dad's and he was supposed to give it to you." I looked down at my locket. Jeremy saw the look of sadness I had. I looked at him and came over beside him. "Before my family left, my brother gave me this locket. He said he and my other brothers and sister had this locket saved for me. It's the only thing I have to remember them by." Jeremy didn't look mad anymore, but a little sad. He knew about what happened with my family and I knew deep down inside that he felt bad about it. "I promise you I will make sure the pocket watch is the first thing we get back when Mrs. Lockwood is done displaying it. I know you're angry at Elena, but your mom wanted to do this, and Elena is only doing what your mom wanted. Please don't be angry with her."

Jeremy looked at me and nodded. I got up to leave but stopped when he spoke. "Hey Maddie," I turned around and looked at him. "Thank you," he said referring to the pocket watch. I smiled at him and left his room. _Finally! Jeremy and I had a little bonding time! _ I smiled at the thought of us actually getting along. I had a family again, and that made me happy more than anything.

-0-

Bonnie and I were waiting in line to go in; the Lockwood's wanted to greet everyone so there was a huge line. I had a yellow dress on with a flower mesh topping but didn't really cover my shoulders. It had a sweetheart neck line and light ruffles that came down just above my knees. I wore just some white wedges, light makeup, and my locket. My long brown hair was just left straight. I felt very sunny and happy in my dress. Elena, Bonnie, and I had went dress shopping earlierand they both said this was my kind of dress when I saw it.

"Hi Mrs. Lockwood." Bonnie greeted.

"Hi Bonnie, nice to see you. Who's your friend?" she asked.

"My name's Maddie. I'm new to town." I said.

"Well, we're happy that you're here." Mrs. Lockwood said. I smiled as Bonnie and I entered the party.

"Yes! Food! I'm starving!" I exclaimed once we got inside.

Bonnie just laughed. "Seriously Maddie, we just ate. I swear you eat like a teenage boy."

I looked at her while I stuffed some cake in my mouth. "Is that a fat joke?"

"Yeah it was." Bonnie said teasingly. I nudged her playfully.

I threw my empty plate in the trash and turned to her. "I know this is a touchy subject, but how is the witchy thing going?"

Bonnie sighed. "Grams told me I need to embrace my inner witch. But seriously, I don't want to. Not after what happened to Tanner."

I looked at her. "So you're admitting that you are a witch."

She slapped me on the arm. "Seriously, one serious conversation. Just one with you. That's all I ask!" Bonnie said laughing.

-0-

The party was a lot of fun. I eventually saw Elena and Stefan and we talked for a while. But that was hours ago. I was just roaming around at the moment. It had gotten dark, but surprisingly, no one had really left. _Dang, this thing is long. Is that how all the parties are here? _ I was looking at the displays when I spotted Elena looking as well. Stefan came over and they started talking. They came over to where I was. "Whatcha looking at?" Elena asked.

"This document. Here, lemme read it. 'The founding families in Mystic Falls welcomes you to the inaugural founder's council celebration.' And look, it's the original guest registry." I said to Elena, pointing at the paper.

"Hey Stefan, look. Wow, there are so many familiar names on here." Elena said calling Stefan over.

"Yeah. Sheriff William Forbes, Mayor Benjamin Lockwood." I said and then a name got my eye. Actually two names. "Is that Damon Salvatore? And Stefan Salvatore?" I asked and Elena and I both looked at Stefan.

"The original Salvatore brothers." I heard Damon say and we turned around. "Our ancestors. Tragic story, actually." Caroline was with Damon as they walked up to us.

"We don't need to bore them with stories of the past." Stefan spoke up.

"It's not boring, Stefan." Elena said with a smile.

"Yeah, it sounds interesting." I said smiling as well.

"Well, I'm bored and Damon won't dance with me. Could I just borrow your date?" Caroline asked Elena.

"Oh, uh…" Elena started.

"I don't really dance." Stefan said.

"Sure he does. You should see him. Waltz, the jitterbug, the moonwalk. He does it all." Damon said.

"You wouldn't mind, would you Elena?" Caroline asked.

"It's up to Stefan." Elena said and looked at Stefan.

"Well, sorry, but I'm not going to take no for an answer." Caroline said as she grabbed Stefan's arm. They both walked off and Damon watched them both leave.

Elena's phone buzzed so she hurry and grabbed it. She looked worried. "What is it, Elena?" I asked.

"It's Bonnie. She says she needs to talk to me about something. Is it okay if I just leave you here?" She asked still looking worried. She was probably still worried from what I told her about Damon earlier, but I was fine; I could handle myself.

"Yeah Elena, I'll be fine. Go." I said with a smile as I nudged her the general direction Bonnie could be.

She smiled back and went to look for Bonnie. It was just me and Damon now.

I started to walk away as Damon looked back at me. "Hey," Damon said and I turned to look at him. "I want to apologize for being such a world-class jerk the other night when I tried to kiss you. There's no excuse." When I didn't respond he continued. "My therapist says I'm…acting out, trying to punish Stefan."

"Punish Stefan, for what?" I asked.

"It's all in the past. I don't even want to bring it up. Let's just say that the men in the Salvatore family have been cursed with sibling rivalry. And it all started with the original Salvatore brothers. The Salvatore name was practically royalty in this town until the war. There was a battle here…"

"The Battle of Willow Creek." I said and Damon looked surprised. "We talked a little about it in class. Confederate soldiers fired on a church with civilians inside." I explained.

"What the history books left out is that the people in there were killed." Damon said walking around me. "They weren't there by accident. They were believed to be union sympathizers. So some of the founders on the confederacy side back then wanted them rounded up and burned alive." I looked at Damon confused. "Stefan and Damon had someone they loved very much in that church. And when they went to rescue them, they were shot. Murdered in cold blood."

"Well, that sounds like a day ruiner." I said sarcastically and earned a chuckle from Damon. "So, who was in the church that they wanted to save?"

"A woman, I guess. Doesn't it always come down to the love of a woman?" Damon asked more as a rhetorical question.

"Look, I'm sorry that you and Stefan have…issues with each other, but I can't get in the middle of it, Damon. But, I hope you two can work it out." I said.

"I hope so, too." Damon said. It was silent for a moment and then Damon spoke up again. "Let's go find Stefan, Caroline, and Elena."

"Yeah, okay." I said and followed him out. Luckily Stefan, Caroline, and Elena were all outside by the punch bowl. "Hey, what did we miss?" I asked.

"We were just chatting." Stefan said. "Drink, Damon?" Stefan asked holding out a drink.

"No. Thanks, I'll pass." Damon said. Stefan nodded.

"How about you, Maddie?" Caroline asked.

"Um, no thanks." I said to her a little confused. _Has she forgotten already?_

"Oh yeah, duh! That's right. You don't drink." Caroline said with a laugh. I smiled as well.

"You don't? Ever?" Damon asked me.

"No, it makes me dizzy and sick. So I kinda steer clear from it." I said and Damon nodded.

"Stefan, do you have another dance in you?" Elena asked.

"Absolutely." Stefan said. And they both walked out to the dance floor.

"They look so cute together." Caroline said.

"I know, right?" I said to Caroline. I looked over and saw Bonnie wave me over. "Excuse me." I said to Caroline and Damon and headed over to Bonnie. I gave Elena a worried look. She must have picked up on it because she came over as well.

We all gathered on a couch and I told them what Damon had said to me about Stefan.

"I'm sorry. I'm a doubt planter. I shouldn't have said anything." Bonnie said.

"It's not your fault. I promised myself I wouldn't get in the middle of it and now that's exactly what I'm doing." Elena said.

"And I keep getting caught in the middle. I don't even know why. He's your boyfriend." I said and we all giggled.

"Elena, honey, there you are." Mrs. Lockwood said as she came in the room. "I notice the watch still isn't in the collection."

I looked over at Elena confused. _Didn't she just get that back from Jeremy? _"Oh, I'm sorry Mrs. Lockwood, I, um, I couldn't find it. I guess it's still packed up in my parents' stuff somewhere." I was going to say something, but if Elena was lying for a reason, I would have to ask her after Mrs. Lockwood left.

"Oh, I see. Well, please let me know if you do find it." Mrs. Lockwood said. Elena smiled. After Mrs. Lockwood left I turned to Elena but she said, "I gave it to Jeremy. It's really special to him. I couldn't just give it away."

"Ah," I said. And with that, Elena and I had left the living room and Bonnie stayed. We were talking about some of the things Damon said until I got a splitting headache. _Another migraine? Really? _ I groaned in pain as I held my head in between my hands; I still kept hearing the same voices, but I still couldn't tell what they were saying.

"Maddie, are you okay? What's going on? Is it another headache?" Elena asked.

"Yeah." I managed to say through the pain.

"Come on." Elena said as she helped me to the bathroom but as soon as we got in, the pain was gone.

"Oi, that was weird." I said once we entered.

"Is it gone?" Elena asked.

"Yeah, just like that." I said snapping my fingers.

We turned around and saw Caroline in front of the mirror. "Hey." She said.

"Hey." Elena and I both said in unison.

We went to the mirror and freshened up a bit. "So how are things with Stefan?" Caroline asked.

"Great. Just great." Elena said. Before I got that headache, Elena went to talk to Stefan about what Damon said and they both got into a little argument.

"Really?" Caroline said. "Well, my radar must be off, 'cause I was getting all sorts of other vibes." Caroline said as she leaned forward. Elena just ignored her but because I was standing behind Caroline, something caught my eye.

"What is that?" I asked. Caroline just looked confused and I went to take her shawl off.

"Don't!" Caroline said and pulled away.

But that didn't stop me. I reached for her scarf and pulled it up, seeing bite marks. "Oh my! Caroline, what happened?" I said. Elena saw as well and gasped.

"Nothing, ok?!" Caroline said pulling away.

"That is not nothing!" Elena exclaimed.

"Did someone hurt you?" I asked.

"No. I'm fine! It just…my mom would kill me." Caroline said.

She leaned forward and I found my chance to remove her shawl. I saw more bite marks everywhere on her back. I finally realized what was going on. "Did Damon hurt you?!" I asked.

"No! Of course not!" Caroline said pulling her shawl back up.

"Caroline, this is serious!" I said.

"Just leave me alone, ok Maddie?" Caroline said and stomped out. I looked over at Elena and both shared the same horrified look.

"Wh-what do we do?" Elena asked.

But now I was pissed. "I'll be right back." I said and stormed off to find Damon. I walked around inside until I finally found him outside. I went up to him and pushed him back. He gave me a confused look but I gave him a cold stare. "There is something seriously wrong with you! You stay away from Caroline or I will go straight to her mother, the Sheriff. Got it? Stay away from her!" I said as I walked off in the other direction, looking for Stefan.

I spotted her talking to Stefan. "I take it all back, you were right about Damon." Elena was saying when I walked up.

"What did he do?" He asked.

"There are bruises all over Caroline's body." I said. "Bite marks and he has her all confused and messed up in the head thinking everything is all right." I finished.

Stefan just nodded. "You don't look surprised." Elena said.

"Um, I'm handling it." Stefan said.

"Handling it? Stefan, not to be rude or anything, but you should have him arrested or something. He doesn't deserve to treat people like that and get away with it, especially Caroline." Realization had just hit me. Damon was probably looking for Caroline now because of what I said to him. "And I think I just made it worse." I said walking away quickly as I searched for Caroline, or Damon for the matter.

I searched the house and tried to call Caroline on her phone. "Caroline?" I yelled as I went around back. I saw her standing there and I ran over to her. "Caroline! Are you okay? I've been looking for you everywhere."

"Yeah, I'm fine." Caroline said, her voice cracking.

"Caroline, what happened?" I asked.

"I'm fine." She sounded like she was hyperventilating.

"Caroline, you're shaking. Just tell me what…" I couldn't finish my sentence. She kept saying she was fine, but I knew she wasn't. I grabbed her and pulled her into a hug and she started crying. _The next time I see Damon, he is going to get it!_


	5. You're Undead to Me

I rolled out of bed the next day. It had been a long night and it was now past ten. So after debating with myself if I should get up or not, I finally decided it was time to get out of bed. I put my hand on my forehead as I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I opened the door and saw Vicki in there, brushing her teeth.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm almost done." Vicki said.

"No worries, take your time." I said. I left and I turned around and Elena was there. She gave me a look that said, 'what's wrong.' "Downstairs." I whispered to her.

When we got downstairs, I saw Jenna in the kitchen. "Are you aware of what's going on upstairs?" I asked Jenna.

"Uh-huh." Jenna said.

Then I looked at Elena. "I just ran into Vicki in the bathroom."

Elena turned to Jenna, her eyes wide. "And you have no objection?"

"He could be craftier about it; at least make an effort to sneak her in and out." I nodded in agreement as Elena handed me a bowl. "Oh, and just so you both know, I won't be home for dinner."

Elena smiled. "Oh, so you're actually going to do it. You're going to go out with Logan." Elena said in a singsong voice.

"I'm going to show up and torture him, yes." Jenna said.

"Yeah, sure Jenna." I winked and Elena laughed.

Jenna cracked a smile. "So, have you heard from Stefan?" Jenna asked Elena. It had been three days since the founder's party and Elena or I haven't heard from him since then.

"Not since he left that very vague message three days ago." Elena said. "'Hi, um, Elena, I, um, I have something I have to do. I'll, uh, explain in a few days.'" Elena said reenacting the message.

"Maybe he's finally dealing with Damon." I said as I poured my cereal. _Because once I see him again..._

"Speaking of Damon, how's Caroline?" Elena asked.

Ever since what happened with Damon, I felt I had to cheer Caroline up 24/7 since a little bit of her heartbreak was my fault. But I'm glad she isn't with him anymore. "She's still upset and confused. But she really doesn't say anything, which for Caroline is very strange. She's probably dealing with some kind of trauma because of the way Damon treated her. I hope Stefan is dealing with Damon because the next time I see him…" I said cracking my knuckles. Elena and Jenna chuckled at the last statement.

"Haven't you called him?" Jenna asked Elena.

"Nope." Elena said. "Not going to, either."

"And you're ok with everything?"

"No, I'm not ok with any of it. But I'm not going to cry about it, either. You know, I was going to write in my diary this morning, and then I thought, what am I going to write? Honestly, I'm not going to be one of those pathetic girls whose world stops spinning because of some guy." Elena said.

"Ok then…" Jenna said worriedly but obviously not buying it. I wasn't really buying it either.

"I'm fine." Elena said as she walked out of the kitchen.

Jenna turned and looked at me. "Damon told me some things about his and Stefan's ex, and now Stefan won't talk about Katherine."

"Oh." Jenna said.

"I mean, I don't think she would be worried, but it's the fact that when Damon brought it up, and now Stefan won't talk about it, and now she hasn't heard from him in days about it, I can kinda understand why she's worried and frustrated." I said.

"Yeah, I totally agree. But Stefan seems like a good guy. Hopefully it all works out." Jenna said as she took another bite.

"Yeah, me too." I said as we finished our cereal.

-0-

"The sexy suds car wash is tomorrow. The football team and the band have committed. Well, not all the band. Just the ones who can pull off a bikini. I want in-your-face sexy. I mean, it's a fundraiser, for God sake." Caroline was talking to me and some of the other cheerleaders about the car wash, and since I was still on the team, I had to go. I saw Elena and Bonnie, told Caroline I would talk to her later, and headed over to them.

"Unbelievable. It's like nothing happened. I go over there for a couple of days and she's downright depressed, then she is back to her normal, control freak self." I said when I walked up to them.

"She's in denial." Bonnie said.

Stefan walked over. It was silent for a couple of seconds and you know how I don't like awkward silences. "Hey, um, Bonnie and I have to go to the library. We'll see you later." I said to Elena and Stefan and Bonnie just smiled. I grabbed Bonnie's arm and we both walked off.

"Nice save." Bonnie said when we were out of their hearing distance.

"They need to be alone right now, plus there was a lot of awkwardness." I said.

"And we all know how much you love that." Bonnie said sarcastically and we both laughed as we walked to the library and talked about random stuff.

-0-

The day was long and boring. When school finally let out, Elena told me Stefan said he was going to explain everything to her later. I told her I would come, for moral support. She laughed knowing I wasn't going to take no for an answer and we both headed over to the Grill.

We caught up with Matt and while we were waiting for Stefan, Elena and Matt played some pool. I didn't really want to play; I just wanted to watch.

"Alright, which one should I hit?" Matt asked more to himself.

I looked around the table. "Five." I said to him. "If you hit it with the angle you're at, you should be able to knock the two in."

"Well, you are the math nerd." Matt said jokingly and I just flashed a big smile. He hit what I told him to and it went in. "So I heard Vicki spent the night last night."

"Yeah, I walked in the bathroom and Vicki is just sitting there." I said.

"It's like it's no big deal that they're hooking up." Elena said as she positioned herself to hit a ball.

"Yeah, I'm not gonna lie. Your brother and my sister, that's weird." Matt said to Elena.

"Yeah." Elena said and she checked her phone.

"How late is he?" Matt asked.

"Close to an hour." I said.

"Hope there's nothing wrong though. Which means I'm not talking boy problems with you." Elena said to Matt.

"Good. I mean, it's not like we were ever best friends or anything." Matt said sarcastically.

"Yeah, and don't forget that I'm still here." I said.

Elena scoffed. "Ok, here it goes. What do you think of Stefan? Is he a good guy?" Elena asked.

"Why? What's he done?" Matt asked.

"He's just secretive all the time." I clarified.

"I think there's something he doesn't want me to know which makes me want to know all the more." Elena said.

"Like what? Like he's a serial killer and he keeps a clown suit in his trunk?" Matt chuckled.

Elena and I laughed. "No, of course not." Elena said. "But, really, what do we know about him?" Elena asked.

"Well, he's good at football, a little bit of a loner, and as much as I hate saying it, he might be a nice guy." Matt said.

"So you think I'm just being paranoid?" Elena asked.

"I think you should just talk to him." Matt said.

"And remember, this is all because of what Damon has been telling me." I said. "It's probably nothing."

"Yeah, I should talk to him." Elena said.

"Talk to who?" We turned and saw Stefan standing behind us. "I'm so sorry that I'm late."

"What happened?" Elena asked.

"I got held up."

This made Elena a little annoyed. "Is everything ok?"

"There was this thing with my uncle."

"And you couldn't call and tell me that you were going to be an hour late?"

"Ok. You two have fun." I said as I walked away and Matt followed close behind.

"Good save." He said to me.

I laughed. "Yeah, it was getting way too intense for me."

I was talking to Matt for a couple minutes when Elena called me over. I walked up to Elena. "What's up?"

"We're going." She said and we headed out the door.

"I'm guessing it didn't go so well." I said as we got in the car.

"He just keeps giving me vague, non-answers. And the weirdest thing happened. This old guy came up to us claiming he knew Stefan and how he didn't age a day."

"Yeah that is weird." I said. "But you two didn't even talk?"

"Nope. He couldn't even tell me why he was late." Elena said.

"What's so horrible that he can't tell you about it?"

"Beats me." Elena said and we headed home.

-0-

"Come on, you want to make it up to her right?" I asked.

"Yeah, I do, but are you sure she won't be mad?" Stefan asked as he walked in the house.

"Jeremy told me once that chicken Parmesan was her favorite. You can't go wrong with dinner." I smiled.

"Thank you Maddie, I owe you one." Stefan said as I showed him into the kitchen.

"Don't worry, I'll get back to you on that." I said and Stefan chuckled. Stefan had texted me earlier saying he wanted to make things up with Elena, but he didn't quite know how. Jeremy, Stefan, and I schemed up an idea that could work.

I walked upstairs and saw Jeremy. "Is he here?" Jeremy asked.

"Yup, step one complete. On to step two." I said to Jer.

He smiled. "All right." And he went in to talk to Elena. I heard them talk for a while and Jer finally suggested that she go get something to eat. I hid in the bathroom as Elena walked downstairs. Jeremy came out of Elena's room. "Step two complete." He said with a smile.

"And now it's up to Stefan!" I said. And with that, Jer and I parted ways.

-0-

I was at the sexy suds car wash and I was helping Bonnie and Matt. Elena and Stefan had shown up and Matt kept staring at them.

"Uh-uh, no. None of that tortured pining stuff." Bonnie said to Matt.

"I'm just observing." Matt said.

"Right, because that's not creepy at all." I said and Matt and Bonnie laughed.

"Tiki, this one is yours." Bonnie said to Tiki.

"Why do I always get the homely ones?" Tiki asked. Then Tiki turned towards the guy. "Hey man, your car is a total P.O.S. I mean, we can wash it, but it's still a P.O.S."

"You don't have to be rude." I said to Tiki.

"Rude is uglying up the road with that junker." Tiki said and the owner walked off angry.

I just rolled my eyes and turned back around. I heard a scream and turned around and saw Tiki was drenched in water and soap. Matt ran over to help Tiki and I walked up next to Bonnie and whispered 'karma' but she didn't respond. I looked at her. "Bonnie, are you ok?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Serves her right." Bonnie said.

"Yeah it does!" I exclaimed and Bonnie laughed and we got back to work.

-0-

I joined up with Caroline to help her with the money, but Elena was there instead.

"Hey girl!" I sat down next to Elena.

"Hey, you here to help me with the cash?"

"Yup." I said popping the 'p.'

An older man came up. "That'll be $20." I said after he told us what he wanted done. He handed it to me.

"Hey, I remember you from yesterday," Elena said talking to the guy. "You were talking to a friend of mine, at the Grill?" She asked clarifying so he could remember.

"Well, I-I thought it was somebody I knew." He said.

"Stefan Salvatore?" I asked.

"Nah, it can't be. It's just my mind playing tricks on me." He said.

"Where do you think you'd seen him before?" Elena asked.

"When I first moved here, I stayed at the Salvatore boarding house. Stefan was just passing through to visit his uncle. I mean, none of us knew he was even here until the attack."

"The attack?" I asked.

"His uncle got killed. Mauled by an animal in the woods."

I looked at Elena and it looks like she was thinking about something. "His uncle, Zach?" I asked.

"No, Joseph." He said.

"I'm sorry, I don't think we are familiar with the story." I said to him.

"Oh, how could you? I mean, this happened years ago." He said.

"Grandpa, you gotta go. Mom wants you home. Ok?" Tiki said to her grandfather and he walked off. "He wasn't bugging you, was he?" Tiki asked us. "He's a little alzy-heimer." She clarified.

"No, he was sweet." Elena said and I nodded. Elena got up to follow him, and so did I.

"Hey, sorry, are you sure that the man you saw, that you knew, his name was Stefan Salvatore?" Elena asked.

"Yes. I remember his ring and his brother…" The man tried to think of the name.

"Damon?" I asked.

"Yeah, Damon and Stefan Salvatore."

"When was this?" I asked.

"It was early June...1953? Yeah, June 1953." He said and Elena and I exchanged glances.

After he had left, Elena turned to me. "June 1953? But that's impossible." She said.

"Well, maybe not. He has been acting weird. I'm not saying that man was lying, but…" I said looking off.

"I don't know what to think."

"Me neither."

We walked around until we spotted Stefan. He looked over and smiled at us and we put on a fake smile in return. He walked over to us. "So, Caroline finally freed you two?"

"Uh, yeah I guess." Elena said.

"We actually don't know where she went." I clarified.

"Hey, I realized earlier I had no idea your family was from Italy." Elena said to Stefan.

"No? Last name Salvatore didn't do it for you?" Stefan asked.

"Yeah, right." Elena said and she didn't really know what to say after that.

I spoke up. "Are there any other Salvatore's in Mystic Falls?"

"My uncle Zach." Stefan responded.

"Where did everyone else go?" I asked.

"Kinda just spread out." Stefan said. Elena and I nodded. "Why?" He asked both of us.

"We just wanna know more about you." Elena said with a smile.

We had parted ways with Stefan. Elena turned to me. "Now what?"

"How well do you know Logan enough to ask him for a favor?" I asked thinking of a plan.

"Not sure."

"Well, see if you can get into the archives around the fifties. I have to go look for Caroline. She's been gone a long time." I said.

"Alright, sounds great!" Elena said and she headed over to talk to Logan.

I walked into the school building, maybe thinking Caroline was trying to get into some of the supply closets. "Caroline?" I called out in the empty hallways. I looked for her for about a half an hour, but I couldn't find her anywhere.

I walked outside when my phone rang; it was Elena. "Hey, what's up?"

"I'm at the news station, and you will not believe what I just found."

I moved the phone to my other ear as I went out behind the school so I wouldn't be interrupted. "Is it about the 1953 thing?"

"Yes, and I'm watching a video that was taped, and in the background, there's Joseph's nephew, and he looks a lot like Stefan."

My eyes widened. "Hold on, I'll be right over." I said hanging up. I put on some of my practice gear over my swimsuit, snuck over to the car and headed for the news station.

When I got there, I told them that I was here with Elena on a history project and they took me to where she was. Once I got in, I sat next to her and she played the tape. My eyes grew when I saw it. "I can't really get a good pause of where his full face is showing, but it does look a lot like Stefan."

I reached over and grabbed the mouse and keyboard. I rewound the tape and timed where to pause it. Good thing too, because I paused right when we saw his face; it was crystal clear. I looked at Elena and she looked at me. "But, how?" She asked.

I pulled up the internet browser and searched all of the weird things about Stefan. Someone who never grew old, never got hurt, the way his face changed, the bite marks on Caroline, and bodies drained of blood. One word came up: vampire.

I turned to Elena and she gasped. "That's what Matt said Vicki said the night she was attacked. But it can't be."

I didn't know what to think. But I couldn't ignore the facts that were laid out in front of me. "Stefan and Damon are vampires."

"No, they can't be. Vampires aren't real. They are just made up." Elena said.

"I know, I know, but we can't argue with what's laid out in front of us." I argued.

"I don't know what to believe anymore."

-0-

After we got home, we ran straight up to Elena's room. "Think about it Elena. Someone who never grows old, never gets hurt: Caroline had bite marks, for crying out loud. Why didn't we see this?"

And just like that, I got another migraine. My head was pounding. The word 'vampire' kept repeating over and over again. "Maddie? Maddie, what's wrong?" and just like that, it was gone.

I had one single thought come to mind. "We need to go over there. We need to talk to Stefan." I said.

"What?! Are you crazy?"

"Look, if Stefan was going to hurt us, he would have done it by now."

Elena was silent. Then she grabbed her keys. She was no longer shaking and she put her brave face on. "Let's go."

And with that, we headed over to Stefan's house. We were silent the whole way. When we got there, Elena was hesitant. We were now standing at the front door. She turned away, "I can't do this." She whispered.

"We'll be fine Elena. We have to know." I said and the door swung open. We turned around and saw Stefan; he was surprised to see us. I was standing closer to the door than Elena was, but she was still shaking and scared.

"What are you?" She asked.

"And no vague, non-answers." I added. Even though I didn't look scared, I'm pretty sure I was about to pee my pants.


	6. Lost Girls

"What are you?" Elena asked a little bit louder. She was still behind me, frightened at what Stefan might say. I turned to look at Stefan.

He was silent for a while. Then he spoke. "You both know." He said.

"No, I don't." Elena said.

"Yes you do, or you two wouldn't be here." Stefan said.

"It's not possible. It can't be."

Stefan walked out and Elena took a step back. I didn't move. _If he was going to hurt us, he would have done it earlier._

"Everything you know…and every belief that you have is about to change." Stefan said. "Are you ready for that?" He said more to Elena than me, seeing I wasn't as afraid as Elena was.

"What are you?" Elena asked again.

I looked at Stefan. "She needs to hear you say it." I said.

Stefan hesitated. "I'm a vampire." He finally said.

I looked over at Elena. I could tell she was even more frightened. I turned back to Stefan as I backed up next to Elena. "Maybe we shouldn't have come." I said.

"No, please." Stefan said as he came towards us.

Elena grabbed my hand and we started backing away. "No." Elena said as we tried to get away from Stefan.

"Please," Stefan said still coming towards us.

"No," Elena said louder, pulling me back with her.

"Elena, Maddie?" Stefan said.

"No!" Elena screamed. And with that, we bolted towards her car but Stefan flashed in front of us. I looked back at where he was standing then back at where he was now. "How did you do that?" Elena asked.

"You have super speed too? That's comforting." I said sarcastically.

"Please don't be afraid of me." Stefan said desperately.

"Let us go." Elena said.

"Elena, Maddie, there's things that you have to know and understand." Stefan said trying to hold Elena steady.

"Let me go!" Elena screamed. She got out of Stefan's hold, grabbed my arm, and dragged me over to the car.

"Elena, please." Stefan said, but he didn't move. I looked over at Stefan and he gave me a pleading look. I gave him a look and a nod to show him my understanding before I got in the car. Elena raced out of the driveway and sped towards home.

"How can you be so calm with all of this happening?" Elena asked. I could hear the shakiness in her voice.

"What, you don't think that I'm freaking out too? I'm not worried about Stefan, if he wanted to hurt us, he would have already done it." I said.

"Then what are you afraid of?" Elena asked concerned.

"Damon." I said and Elena's eyes widened as she remembered that Damon was a vampire too.

We got home and I fumbled with the house keys. "Hurry up, Maddie." Elena said. Not in a rude way, but a 'I'm scared because vampires now exist' kind of way.

"I'm trying!" I said, starting to shake. I was now a little frightened. If Stefan was a vampire, so was Damon, and he could be anywhere right now. I finally unlocked the house and we both raced inside.

We ran upstairs. Elena went in the bathroom to try and calm down and I went to check on Jer. He was in his room listening to music. I quietly closed the door and met up with Elena in her room. "Is Jeremy okay?" She asked me.

"Yeah, he's fine. Just listening to his music." I said.

Elena nodded and we sat down on her bed. We were both freaking out, but she was freaking out more than I was. Well, that's not true. On the inside, I was having a major freak out. Elena got up off the bed and took off her jacket.

"Elena. Maddie." I heard Stefan say and we both turned around. Elena gasped, and I stepped in front of her protectively. Elena turned around and ran for the door. I did the same. But Stefan came up from behind us and put his hand on the door, blocking it from opening. I turned to look at Stefan, but Elena didn't. "I would never hurt you two." Stefan said. "You're safe with me."

I nodded and looked at Elena; she was freaking out. "All those animal attacks, those people who died…" Elena began as she turned around to face Stefan.

"No. That was Damon." Stefan said.

"Damon?" I questioned.

"Yes." Stefan said. "I don't drink human blood. That's not how I chose to survive, but Damon does. I'll explain everything to both of you, but I beg you, do not tell anybody."

"How can you ask us that?" Elena asked, her voice still shaky.

"Because knowing this is dangerous. For so many reasons. You can hate me, but I need you both to trust me." Stefan said.

"We won't." Elena looked at me as I said this. "We won't." I repeated looking at Elena this time.

"I can't just trust you." Elena said to Stefan.

"Then trust me." I said and Elena looked at me again. "If you can't trust Stefan, then trust me."

"Just go," Elena said to Stefan. "If you mean us no harm, then you'll go. Please."

I looked at Stefan, he looked hurt. "I never wanted this." He said and he flashed out.

Elena turned to me. "How can you just trust him?" She asked me.

"Because, Elena. I've told you so many times; if he wanted to hurt us, he would have done it already." I said starting to get tired of repeating myself.

"And you're just okay with that? All those people that died?" Elena said as she started crying.

"No, Elena, of course not. But that wasn't Stefan; that was Damon. He's the one we should be cautious about." I said.

"I can't do this! I just can't!" Elena said as she ran out of her room.

"Elena!" I said as I followed her.

"Maddie! Just don't!" I heard Elena scream as she ran into the bathroom and locked it.

I looked back at the window; it was still open. I ran over and closed it. I sat on the Elena's bench for a while before I headed back to my room. Once I closed the door, I heard Elena leave the bathroom and head to her room, locking it. I groaned and got up. I went downstairs and poured myself a glass of water. I looked out and saw Stefan on the patio. I set my water down and headed out.

When I got out, I closed the door behind me. Stefan came up to me. "You're not afraid?" he asked.

"Of you? No. You haven't really given me a reason to, yet." I said.

"What about Elena?" Stefan asked.

"She's still a little shaken up, but she'll come around. It's just a little too much for her in one night."

"And what about you? Is it too much for you?"

"Not really, but just the fact that Damon's a vampire too is a little much for me. He's reckless and dangerous. I don't know what he'll do." I said and Stefan nodded. "You said early that you were handling it with him, have you?" I asked.

He looked away. "I did, but things got complicated."

"Complicated how?"

"Don't worry, I'll fix it." Stefan said.

I was about to ask him how, but instead I just let it go. "Are you sure?" I finally asked.

"Yes." Stefan said and it was quiet for a moment. "Thank you, for understanding." He said.

I just nodded and he flashed away.

-0-

"You said you would explain everything. That's why we asked you to meet us here." Elena said. It was the next day and I convinced Elena to give Stefan a chance. She texted him to meet us at the Grill.

"Well, I wouldn't say that's the only reason." I said looking at Elena.

She ignored me as she continued. "When you Google 'vampire,' you get a world of fiction." Elena began.

"So what's the reality?" I asked.

"I can tell you whatever you want to know." Stefan said to both of us.

"I know you eat garlic." Elena said.

"Yes." Stefan responded.

"And somehow, sunlight's not an issue?" I asked.

"Hi, here are your drinks." The waitress said as she handed them out.

"We have rings that protect us." Stefan said showing his ring after the waitress left.

"Crucifixes?" Elena asked.

"Decorative." Stefan said.

"Holy water?"

"Drinkable."

"Mirrors?" I asked.

"Myth." Stefan said.

"You said you don't kill to survive." Elena said.

"Animal blood keeps me alive, but not as strong as Damon. He can be very powerful." Stefan said.

"And yet you let him get involved with Caroline?" I asked annoyed.

"Forcing Damon not to do something is much more dangerous, believe me." Stefan responded.

"He was hurting her." I retorted.

"He was feeding on her. He was able to take her memories away of being bitten using a form of mind compulsion. She never knew what was happening to her. If he wanted to kill her, he would have." Stefan said.

"Well, for the memory part, that makes a lot of sense. But still, is that supposed to make it ok?" I asked.

"No. No, none of this is ok. I know that." Stefan said. Elena and I were silent for a while.

I finally spoke up. "Are there any others, aside from you and Damon?"

"Not in Mystic Falls, not anymore." Stefan said.

"Not anymore?" Elena asked.

"There was a time when this town was…very much aware of vampires, and it didn't end well for anybody. That's why it's important that you two don't tell anyone." Stefan said.

"I can't promise that."

"Elena…" I began.

"Don't 'Elena' me, Maddie." Elena said annoyed.

"Just give me today," Stefan began trying to break the tension between us. "I will answer any questions that you have, and when it's over, you can decide for yourself what you want to do with what you know. It'll be your choice."

I looked at Elena and she nodded.

-0-

Elena was driving wherever Stefan was taking us. "Stop here." He said and she did just that.

"What are we doing here?" Elena asked when she got out of the car.

"I want to show you two something." Stefan said.

I started to follow Stefan, but Elena didn't move. "In the middle of nowhere?" Elena asked looking skeptical.

"This…didn't use to be nowhere." Stefan looked around as he continued. "This used to be my home."

That did it for Elena. She closed her door and followed Stefan, looking around. I did the same.

"It looks so…" I began.

"Old? It's because they are." Stefan said.

"Wait, how long have you…" Elena started but didn't finish.

"I've been 17 years old since 1864." Stefan said.

"That's a lot of years." I commented. Elena just stood there with her eyes widening.

"You said you wanted to know." Stefan reminded. "I'm not going to hold anything back." Elena and I both nodded and Stefan began his story. "Half century before the boarding house was even built, this was my family's home. Damon and I…we were both born here. The Salvatore brothers. Best of friends. We used to do everything together."

"So, what about Katherine?" I asked. "Was she alive in 1864?"

"Yes, that's when it all started." Stefan said.

"You knew Katherine in 1864? Damon made it seem like…" Elena began.

"Damon was trying to make you thing that I was still heartbroken. He saw that I was happy with you, and he wanted to ruin it." Stefan said.

"But what about me? How did I get dragged into it?" I asked.

"Damon saw you as the messenger. He knew it would make it worse if he passed it along to Elena instead of saying it to her directly." Stefan said.

"All because you loved the same woman 145 years ago?" I asked.

"She wasn't just any girl." Stefan said and explained about how Katherine had to choose between him and Damon on who was going to take her to the founder's ball. "She chose me to escort her to the ball at the original Lockwood mansion."

"The first founder's party…" I said understanding the connection.

Elena picked up on it to. "Where you signed the registry." She said. Stefan nodded.

"I didn't care that I had gotten something that my brother wanted. I didn't even care if it hurt him. I only knew that I wanted her." Stefan said, knowing he wasn't proud of it.

"So he was upset." I clarified as Elena and I sat down on a bench.

"That's the thing about Damon. He doesn't get mad. He just gets even." Stefan said. "What Damon wants, Damon usually gets. I didn't know at the time, but turns out that night, Katherine was with him, too."

"So he stole her from you, not the other way around?" Elena asked.

"Turns out…she wasn't ours to steal." Stefan said.

I thought about it for a while. "Was Katherine a vampire?"

Stefan smiled. "You're really good at figuring things out, aren't you? Yeah, she was. I figured that out one night when she fed on me. She then compelled me to act like nothing was wrong and to go about the way things were. She could control my mind, and Damon's. She compelled each of us to keep the secret from the other. She wanted us all to be together forever." Elena and I both exchanged glances before Stefan continued. "Didn't work out that way, but Damon and I, looks like we're stuck with each other. Like it or not." Stefan said as he pulled out a ring from a wool cloth he picked up from the ground.

"Is that Damon's ring?" I asked.

Stefan nodded. "I took it from him, but I have to give it back."

"No, don't, Stefan. Keep it hidden." Elena said.

"If I don't give it to him, he'll retaliate in the only way that he knows he can hurt me."

"And how is that?" Elena asked annoyed.

"By hurting the both of you." Stefan said.

Elena and I exchanged glances. Stefan led us back to the car. When we got there Elena asked him. "The mind control, you said Katherine used. Do you ever do that to us?"

"No," Stefan said. "That necklace," he said pointing at Elena's necklace. "It contains and herb called vervain. It protects you from being compelled. I wanted to protect you from Damon's influence."

"What about me?" I asked.

Stefan looked at me. "You remember how you told me your locket was jammed?"

"Yeah."

"That's the vervain jamming it." He said.

I looked at him. "But it was jammed before I met you." I looked up at him as I realized something. "My family knew about vampires?" I asked.

Stefan nodded. "When I looked at your locket, I could smell it."

"But I don't even know where my family is. If Damon found out that they knew…" I began trying to think of what would happen.

"Don't worry. Damon believes I put it in there." Stefan said and I nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. _If my family didn't care enough to leave me, why did they care enough to protect me from compulsion? _

"Elena, Maddie, you should never take those off, because no matter what happens after today, no matter how you feel about me, you'll know that you two were free to make your own choice." Stefan said and walked over to the other side. Elena and I looked at each other and got back in the car to drive home.

When we got home, Vicki, Jeremy, and Matt were all there. We walked in as we saw Vicki push Jer.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"She's really messed up." Matt said.

Stefan came up to us. "Elena, Maddie, back up." We did as he said. "Vicki, look at me. Focus. You're going to be fine. Everything's gonna be fine." He turned to Jer and Matt. "Guys, take her up to bed. Shut the blinds. She's gonna be ok. Come on." He led them to the stairs and Elena and I were still in the kitchen freaking out.

"You know what's wrong with her?" I asked when Stefan came back in.

"Yeah." Stefan said.

"What is it?" Elena asked.

"She's transitioning." Stefan said.

I realized what was going on. "Into what?" Elena asked.

"No, she can't be." I said not wanting to believe it.

"A vampire." Stefan said. "Damon must have gotten to her. She's new. She hasn't completed her transformation yet."

"How does she complete it?" I asked.

Stefan hesitated. "She has to feed on human blood."

"And what if she doesn't?" Elena asked.

"She'll die. She may only have a few hours."

Elena was pacing back and forth. "She's upstairs with him right now." Elena said referring to Jeremy.

"It's ok, she doesn't know what's happening to her yet."

"Yet? We can't just wait around like sitting ducks until she does. What are we gonna do? How much time do we have until she remembers?" I asked.

"Right now, she doesn't remember anything. A part of her is still human, but slowly, the deeper she gets into the transition, the memories will start to come back, and then she'll know she has to make the choice." Stefan said.

Elena was still pacing around. Then she stopped and looked at Stefan. "The same choice you made?" she said in kind of a nasty tone. I shot her a look of disbelief because of how she was treating Stefan now. She just ignored me and Stefan said nothing.

Matt came downstairs a while later and then Vicki came running down soon after. "Vick!" Matt yelled as she ran out the door. We all ran out to stop her, but when we got out, she was nowhere to be seen.

"She was fine, and then she just—she just freaked out." Jeremy said when he came out.

"I'm gonna go look for her. Call me if you hear anything." Matt said and then he took off.

"I can track her." Stefan whispered in my ear.

I turned and looked at him. I nodded. "Go."

After Stefan left, I led Elena and Jeremy into the house. "We need to go look for her." Jer said.

"It's still possible she might come back. We need to be here if she does." I said and we waited.

-0-

Elena, Jer, and I were cleaning the kitchen. "Maybe we should check in with Matt." Jer said.

"He'll call when he finds her." I said handing him a plate.

"Well, what are we supposed to do?" Jer asked.

"We wait. We're supposed to wait." I responded.

"I don't know what's wrong with her." Jer said concerned.

Elena walked up to him and handed him some glasses. "She'll be fine." She said reassuringly. "It'll all be fine."

The doorbell rang and Elena and I exchanged glances before I went to answer it. I opened the door and saw Damon, so I quickly tried to close the door but he pushed it open; he was stronger than I was. _Great, they have super strength too? What else can they do? Breathe fire? _I wasn't in a good mood right now. "Elena, Jer, go upstairs." I said in a frustrating tone. Elena didn't have to be told twice before she grabbed Jer's arm and led him upstairs. I just glared at Damon.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess. Stefan finally fessed up. But you aren't afraid. Why is that?" Damon asked.

I must have looked more pissed than I was scared. But I still kept myself composed. "Stay away from me." I snarled.

"Hey, hey, hey, there's no need to be rude. I'm just looking for Stefan. May I come in? Oh, wait. Of course I can. I've been invited." Damon said as he walked past me and closed the door. _So...they have to be invited in? _He walked towards the living room. "We can cut to the chase if you want. I'm not going to kill you right now. Though it is tempting, that wouldn't serve my greater agenda."

"Well, that's comforting." I said sarcastically.

"So, where's Stefan?" Damon asked seriously.

"He's out looking for Vicki." I said glaring daggers at him.

"Don't look at me with those judgey little eyes." Damon said stepping closer to me. "Girl's gonna thank me for what I did to her." He was so close to me now.

"Did you thank Katherine?" I asked still composed.

He looked at me for a minute then turned around and walked toward the living room. "Got the whole life story, huh?"

"I got enough. It wasn't hard to piece it together." I said.

"Oh, I know. You're a quick one." Damon said looking at me. He then walked towards the door. "Tell my bother I'm looking for him." He opened the door but turned back to me. "Oh, tip for later. Tell Elena to be careful who she invites in the house."

"Good to know." I said. Damon smirked as he left. _So they do have to be invited in, or else they can't enter. That's why Damon was waiting for Elena to invite him in the other night. Duly noted._

Elena came running down the stairs after she heard the door close. She ran up to me and gave me a hug. "Are you ok? Did he hurt you?" She pulled away to look at me.

"I'm f-fine." I said shaking. I didn't realize how scared I was until after he left.

"You're shaking." Elena said.

"Yeah. I didn't realize how scared I was. Good thing Damon didn't see I was afraid or things could have gone a lot differently." I said.

"Come on, let's get something to eat. Tell me everything he said." Elena said as we went into the kitchen.

-0-

Elena went outside to wait for Stefan. I was inside just watching TV, still trying to calm my nerves. I stood up to get a drink, when I got another splitting headache. I fell into my knees as I winced in pain. I kept hearing the word vampire and then a scene flashed into my head.

_There was a girl crying in the middle of the woods._

"_Are you alright?" A man asked as he approached the girl._

"_I don't know where I am. I don't know what I'm doing here. I'm lost." The girl said._

"_Here," the man said holding out his hand. "Let me help you."_

And then it was gone. My headache was subsiding as well. _What was that?_ I kept thinking to myself. I didn't realize that five minutes had passed since I had gotten the headache. _One day. Can't I just have one day? _ I thought to myself, then started thinking about the scene that I had saw. _What's happening to me? _

My thoughts were interrupted by Elena walking in through the front door. She closed the door behind her and just stood there. She looked as if she was about to break down into tears, then I realized what happened; she broke up with Stefan. I ran up to her and gave her a hug as she sobbed into my shoulder.


	7. Haunted

"Wait, so what's going on?" I asked Elena.

"Jeremy is ditching school to look for Vicki." Elena said as we were heading to school.

"Well, I bet I know where she is." I said. Elena turned to me. "The boarding house." Elena must have gotten what I was trying to say, because she started driving there.

"How about Damon, will you be ok?" Elena asked.

"I'll be fine, it's you that I'm worried about. Are you sure you'll be able to keep yourself composed?" I asked.

She was silent for a while. "Maybe you should do all the talking."

I laughed. "No problem."

We pulled up to the boarding house. I got out of the car and Elena followed me, but stayed back a couple of feet. I rang the doorbell and Damon answered the door. Elena was still frightened of Damon, so she stayed behind me. Damon just smirked at me. "Is Stefan here?" I asked.

"Yep," Damon said as he leaned against the doorway.

"Where is he?"

"And good morning to you, little miss 'I'm on a mission.'" Damon said to me. "Hello Elena."

Elena just stayed silent. "How can you be so arrogant and glib after everything you've done?" I asked annoyed and folding my arms.

"And how can you be so brave and stupid to call a vampire 'arrogant and glib'?" Damon asked.

"I guess it's just one of my many talents. And plus, if you wanted me dead, I'd be dead." I retorted.

"Yes, you would."

"But I'm not."

"Yet."

"Oh, and here I thought we were having a moment." I said with a fake pout. "Where's Stefan?" I said serious again and still annoyed.

"He's upstairs singing 'The Rain in Spain.' Knock yourself out." Damon said as he passed me on his way outside. Elena walked around me to avoid Damon and rushed into the house. Damon looked at me and smirked at Elena's action, I just responded by glaring at him before I went in and closed the door behind me.

Elena was walking up the stairs. "You know by you reacting all scared is just giving him the reaction he wants." I said to her.

"Better safe than sorry." Elena said continuing up the stairs.

I followed her. "Where's your sense of adventure?"

"Our definitions of adventure must be completely different." Elena said laughing. Then she looked around. "Stefan?" she called out.

"Yes," Stefan said as he appeared.

"Where's Vicki?" I asked looking around.

"She's up here." Stefan said and motioned for us to go downstairs.

When we got to the bottom, Elena spoke up. "What are we supposed to do because my brother is out there searching for her with the rest of the town."

"What do we tell him?" I asked.

"I'm working with her, but it's going to take time. She's a very volatile and impulsive personality. She's a drug user. I mean, all that's going to play a part in how she responds to this." Stefan explained.

"So she's a vampire with issues?" I asked.

"What are we supposed to do? Because we are lying to everyone that we care about." Elena said.

"What's going to happen to her?" I asked.

"I'm gonna keep her here with my until I know that she's safe." Stefan whispered.

"How long is that?" We heard Vicki yell.

She was at the top of the stairs, waiting for Stefan to give her an answer. _Seriously?! Super speed, super strength, and now super hearing? How is everyone supposed to defend themselves? _"We can talk about that later." Stefan said.

"Hey, Vicki, how are you?" I asked.

"How am I? You're kidding, right?" Vicki asked.

"Yeah, probably not the best question to ask." I said. Vicki smiled and walked away.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine." Stefan said to us.

"I don't doubt that you can help her Stefan, but the fact that Damon's here doesn't ease my nerves. Are you sure you can help her? And that she won't hurt anyone?" I asked.

"I have it under control. Don't worry." Stefan said.

-0-

The school was decorated for Halloween. I told Elena and Stefan that if I didn't get to school soon, Caroline would kill me. I walked to school, and Elena stayed with Stefan. When I arrived, I saw Bonnie and we started talking for a while until Caroline came over. "I have got your costumes. They're all here." Caroline said handing Bonnie and I each a bag.

Bonnie pulled hers out first. "Seriously?" she asked pulling out a witch costume.

"Come on, can someone please be excited that it's Halloween?" Caroline asked.

"I love Halloween! What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Oh, you haven't even looked at your costume yet!" Caroline exclaimed.

"All right, all right." I said laughing as I pulled out my costume. I gasped with excitement. "How did you know I love Tinker Bell?"

"Little birdy told me." Caroline said with a smile.

"Thanks, Care." I said and gave her a hug.

"I just want to have fun, you know? Just some silly, fluffy, Damon-free fun." Caroline said.

"Hey, isn't this the one you got from Damon?" Bonnie asked holding out a necklace with a brown looking crystal.

"Yep. Wear it. Toss it. I don't care. I just want it gone." Caroline said and Bonnie nodded, putting it back into her bag. "Hey, have you seen Elena? Do we know what she's wearing?" Caroline asked.

"I was with my Grams all weekend. I haven't talked to her." Bonnie said. Caroline turned to me.

"To be honest, I have no idea what she is actually going with. Last I heard she was going as a nurse." I said. The bell rang and we headed to class.

-0-

"Just-just call me please." I heard Jeremy say as I walked into the kitchen.

I was gonna keep quiet, but Elena snuck in. "Hey, Jer." Elena said. He just sighed. "So, um, do you wanna hang out tonight?" She asked. She gave me a look that said, 'help me.'

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm going over to the Halloween thing at school. You wanna come? It'll be a lot of fun." I said in a sing song voice.

"Cool. Sure. Sounds, uh-sounds fun. Can't wait." Jer said as he turned to look at us, obviously not excited.

We both sighed as he turned to walk into the living room. "We know you're upset about Vicki." Elena started. "I heard she called Matt. But you can't be with her. She needs to get better. The best thing you can do for her is let her go."

I could tell Jeremy was getting anxious. Elena was going to hate me after I said this. "What Elena means is that she needs her family right now. Let Matt be the one to take care of her, you know? We're not saying to never see her again." I said and Elena shot me a glare which I ignored.

"What do you mean by 'let her go,' Elena? Because you're such a great expert on letting people go, right?" Jer said and I winced. _Well, that tactic failed. Way to go Elena._

"I know you may not see it, but trust me, Jer. It's for the best." Elena said.

"For months, I felt like crap, like nothing else mattered. But the moments where I felt even the slightest bit better, Vicki was in every single one of them. So you may not see it, but trust me, keeping me away from her is not for the best." Jeremy said more to Elena than me. And with that, he headed into the living room. I gave Elena a quick glance before I went after him. "Don't give me the same lecture." Jeremy said as I approached.

I knew Elena couldn't hear us well, and if she could, I would probably have a bruise later. "I'm not. I disagree with Elena. Vicki really has made you a lot happier. I haven't known you long, but I can tell. She's just scared right now; all of her friends had just recently died. I'm not saying don't see her again, but all I'm saying is just give her a little time to adjust, you know? The best thing for her is her family, and she'll reach out to you, but just be cautious. I know what emotional scarring can do, and by her personality, she is just gonna handle it differently. So by all means, don't let her go, but just be careful, ok?" I said.

Jer smiled, "Ok." He said and he walked out of the room.

I walked back in the kitchen and earned a glare from Elena. _Yup, she heard. _"What was that?!" She whisper yelled so Jeremy wouldn't hear her.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I said innocently as I walked towards the hallway where the stairs were.

She stepped in front of me. "Vicki is dangerous, she could kill him." Elena said.

"Don't you think I know that? But trying to keep him away is only going to want him to be with her more. Plus, Stefan is going to help her. Once she has the feeding under control, she'll be fine. I know Vicki has an impulsive personality, but I don't think she'll feed on him on purpose."

"Accidents happen, Maddie." Elena said.

"But keeping a teenage boy away from someone he loves won't work." I looked at Elena and she didn't say anything for a while. "I need to go get ready for the Halloween party." I passed her on my way to the stairs and looked back at her. "You coming?" I asked with a big smile. She just smiled back and followed me up the stairs.

-0-

I dressed up in my Tinker Bell costume and put my hair up in a bun, leaving my side bangs out. Elena was dressed as a sexy nurse and Jeremy just put on a hoodie and we all headed out to the Halloween party. When we got there, I immediately looked for Bonnie and Caroline. Elena looked for Stefan, and I guess Jeremy went to look for some of his friends.

I spotted them under a tent and they waved me over. "Oooohhh, you look sexy in your Tinker Bell costume." Caroline said as I approached.

"It would be even more sexy if these wings actually worked." I winked.

"So, Maddie gets to be a cute fairy and I'm stuck with the witch costume?" Bonnie asked Caroline.

"Hey, you still look hot." I said.

"Yeah, and just so you know, I was looking for a scary costume, but when I saw it I was like 'OMG Maddie would totally wear this' so I got it." Caroline said to Bonnie about my Tinker Bell costume.

"And by the way, you both look sexy as well." I said and they giggled.

"Well, if Tinker Bell was a brunette, you would look just as hot as she was." Bonnie laughed.

"Cider for the ladies? It's the Lockwood special." Tyler said as he came up to us.

"No way. Last year, I was hung over until Thanksgiving." Bonnie said.

Tyler looked at me. "Yeah, no for me either. I'll pass." I said.

"Loving the Tinker Bell costume. You should wear stuff like that more often." Tyler said.

"Green? Yeah, I know. I just love this color of green."

Bonnie laughed and I turned to her. "I think he meant short dresses."

I looked at her, then back at Tyler, who only responded with him winking. "Uhhh, excuse me while I go hurl." I said. Bonnie laughed and Tyler just rolled his eyes.

"You're both lightweight." Caroline said referring to us not drinking. "I am going to drink until someone is hot enough to make out with."

Tyler nodded. "Sounds like a plan." And they clinked glasses as they both drank. Bonnie and I both exchanged glances and then I got a text message. I pulled out my phone. It was from Elena and it read '911 Jer.'

I texted her back, 'alright, where are you' and I turned to Bonnie. "I'm going to go find Elena."

"Alright." Bonnie said and I raced in the direction of the haunted house.

I found Elena and ran up to her. "What's going on?" I asked.

"Vicki's here." She said as she looked around.

"What? Where?" I said looking around for Jeremy or Vicki.

"If I knew, I wouldn't be looking for her. And we wouldn't be in this mess if you didn't tell Jer that it was alright to see her."

"Hey!" I said grabbing her arm. "The fact that I said that means nothing. He isn't going to stay away from Vicki no matter what. How can you not see that? You broke up with Stefan, yet you still see him." I said.

"So this is my fault?" Elena argued.

"No, I didn't say it was your fault. That doesn't matter now. What matters is that we find Jeremy and Vicki, ok? What is Vicki dressed as?" I asked.

"I'll give you one guess." Elena said. The tone in her voice sounded like she wasn't mad anymore.

"Vampire, right. Got it. Let's go look." I said and we both searched for the couple.

We searched for a bit, and then we saw Stefan with Vicki. "Oh, thank God." Elena said.

"What happened?" Stefan asked.

"We lost track of Jeremy." Elena said.

"Correction, Elena was on Jeremy duty. But we were both still worried." I said.

"What's going on?" Matt said as he came up to our group.

"Hey, uh, everything's fine." Stefan said.

"I told you to quit bothering me." Vicki said as she pulled away.

"Vicki, no. Please don't do this. Not right now." I said.

"Matt, he won't leave me alone." Vicki said as she turned to Matt.

Matt stepped towards Stefan. "You need to back off, man."

"Matt, it's ok." I said trying to comfort him.

"No, it's not okay! What the hell is your problem?" Matt asked as he got closer to Stefan.

I looked over and saw Vicki was gone. "Stefan," Elena began.

"She's gone!" I finished as I ran out looking for her. I heard someone following me so I looked back and it was Elena.

"Where is she?" Elena asked as we frantically searched.

"I don't know Elena, that's why we're looking." I said more worried than annoyed. "Split up, it'll be easier." I said.

"Good idea." Elena said and we both separated.

"Vicki, if you bite him, I swear…." I said under my breath as I continued to search. I ran and ran looking for Jeremy or Vicki. Or most likely both considering Vicki already beat me to Jer. This thought got me worried as I frantically searched.

I saw a door opened and ran out. I was in the back parking lot. I heard Jeremy scream. I picked up a wood plank as I ran over. Vicki was about to attack Jeremy. "Vicki, no!" I screamed. She looked at me and threw Jeremy off to the side and walked towards me. I swung the plank at her, but she just blocked it and I backed up, but she grabbed a hold of me and threw me back.

I landed on a bunch of garbage and Vicki was about to charge again, but Stefan came out and pinned her against one of the buses. "Vicki!" Jeremy screamed. Vicki threw Stefan back and flashed away. Stefan and I both frantically looked around for her.

"Go, get inside." Stefan said to both me and Jer. He didn't have to tell me twice. I ran over to Jer, grabbed his arm, and raced for the door, grasping the side of my stomach in pain.

I made it to the door and opened it, but Vicki appeared behind Jer, pushing him out of the way as she grabbed me and pulled me out. She held me as she bit me and started feeding on me and I started to scream. I felt the draining end as I fell to the floor. I looked up and saw Vicki had been staked by Stefan.

I sat on the ground with one of my hands holding me up while the other one was holding onto my neck where I had been bitten. Elena rushed out and gasped as she saw what happened. I had a sad look on my face when I saw that Vicki was dying. I looked over at Jeremy and he looked heartbroken. "Vicki!" He screamed over and over as Stefan held him back; Vicki was starting to turn gray and she fell on the floor dead.

Elena looked at Vicki, then at me, then at Stefan. "Get him out of here." Elena said and Stefan hesitated. He looked over at me and I saw his face start to change but he quickly turned around and took Jeremy away. Elena ran over to me and knelt down by me. "Are you okay?" She asked frantically.

"Yeah, just really dizzy, and I feel a little weak. She got me real good." I said and Elena looked.

She removed my hand. "It looks bad."

"Doesn't feel too great either." I moaned.

I heard Damon walk over. "You two should go. I got this."

I looked at him angrily. I got up but almost stumbled over: Elena had to catch me. "You did this. This is your fault." I snarled.

"You confuse me for someone with remorse." He looked at my neck. "Ooo, she got you good. Mind if I have a taste?" Damon said as he walked towards me.

Elena stepped forward, still holding on to me. "You stay away from her." She snarled at him.

I finally wasn't dizzy anymore so I walked up to Damon and tried to slap him, but he caught my hand. I groaned in pain as he pulled it back. "None of this matters to me, none of it." He whispered as he let go.

I felt tears welling up behind my eyes, not because of sadness, but because of anger. "People die around you, Damon. How could it not matter? It matters, and you know it!" I said without trying to yell at him. I didn't want anyone else to hear. But I was able to slap him since I caught him off guard. Probably not the best idea because he looked pissed, and I could tell Elena was scared, and to be honest, so was I. But I was still more pissed than scared, and Damon saw that.

"Hmmm." Damon said as he looked at my neck. He leaned closer, but I responded by taking a step back, still glaring at him. "You should go. Your wounds are bleeding and you need to leave." Damon said and I saw his eyes start to change, but he was holding it back. I just glared at him, but Elena grabbed my arm and pulled me away.

We walked off and Elena was helping me out. I was still dizzy and confronting Damon like I did didn't settle that in any way. "Hey Maddie, Elena, have you seen…Whoa, what happened?" Matt asked as he approached us.

"Nothing." I managed to say as I put on a fake 'there's nothing wrong' face. "Some drunk idiot just got some fake blood all over me. I'm gonna go home and shower." I said to him and Elena and I turned away.

"I can't find Vicki." Matt said worriedly and Elena cringed. I turned to face Matt and slowly, Elena did as well. "She totally bailed on me."

Elena couldn't speak. "We don't know where she is." I said to Matt.

Matt paused for a second. "Is this what I'm in for, a lifetime of worrying about her?"

"I'm sure she's fine." I said comfortingly.

Elena spoke up. "You're a good brother, Matt."

"Yeah, maybe she went home." Matt said.

Elena and I nodded. "Maybe." Elena said quietly. Matt nodded and walked off. Elena looked as if she was about to burst into tears as we both left.

When we got home, Stefan was at the front door. "Where is he?" I asked.

"Inside." Stefan said and I nodded as we both walked in. We ran up to Jeremy's room, and he was crying on his bed.

Elena and I both walked in. Elena sat on the bed and looked at Jer. "Do you understand what happened tonight?" She asked.

"No, I don't understand." Jer said as he looked up. "I mean, I know what I saw, but…I don't understand."

"She was going to kill Maddie." Elena said.

"Now she's dead. Vicki's dead." Jeremy said about to cry again.

"I'm so sorry, Jer." I said as I gave him a hug.

Jeremy pulled away as he looked at me. "Make it stop. It hurts."

"Shh, shh, shh, it's ok. It's ok." I said trying to comfort him.

"Why does everybody have to die on me?" He asked.

Elena and I both gave him a hug and he hugged us back as he continued to cry. Elena broke off from the hug. "Don't worry, Jer. It's going to be ok." She said and left. I gave him a comforting smile and followed her. She ran down the stairs and I grabbed a blanket on the way out. Stefan was still on the porch as we ran out. "You ok?" She asked Stefan.

He nodded as he came over to us. "I-uh-wanted to help her. But instead, uh…" He didn't finish; he didn't need to. "How is he?"

"He's a mess." Elena said as she started crying again. I gave her my blanket and she wrapped it around herself. "I don't want him going through this again. He's just a kid."

Stefan walked closer to Elena, but kept his distance from me. I could tell the blood still on my neck was bothering him. "Elena, what can I do? What can I do to help? I'll do anything."

"Can you make him forget?" Elena asked.

"Elena, no." I whispered. _What is she doing? I know Jeremy is hurting and I completely understand, but she doesn't know what it's like to have most of her memories gone, and Jeremy doesn't deserve that. _

"Stefan, please." Elena pleaded.

"Elena, you don't know what you're doing." I said.

"Yes, I do. He's hurting really bad, Maddie, can't you see that?" Elena said as she cried.

"Elena, trust me, I do, but…." I began.

She gave me a pleading look. "Please?" She asked to both Stefan and me. "I don't know how he'll ever get past this. I just want him to forget everything that happened."

"If I did it then there is no guarantee that it would work. Because of who I am, because of how I live. I don't have the ability to do it right."

"I can do it." We heard Damon say. I turned and saw Damon. "If this is what you want…." He walked up to us and Elena turned around. Damon looked at me. "I'll do it."

Elena looked at me as well. "Maddie?" She asked seeing if I would agree.

I looked over at Elena and she had a pleading look in her eye. "She's Jeremy's sister." I said as I looked back at Damon.

He didn't really buy my answer, but he accepted it. "What do you want him to know?" He said looking at me and Elena.

"I want you to tell him that Vicki left town, and she's not coming back. That he shouldn't look for her or worry about her. He's gonna miss her, but he knows it's for the best." Elena said. I looked at her with a sad look at the last sentence then turned back to Damon. He looked at me and nodded as he went into the house.

I looked over at Elena and she walked over to sit by Stefan. I went in the house and leaned against the staircase as I held back tears for Jeremy. Damon walked down the stairs and looked at me. "It's done." He said and I nodded. "Why didn't you want him to forget? Wouldn't it be easier that way?" He asked concerned.

I looked down at my locket as more tears threatened to pour out, but I didn't let them. "Because of what happened with my family, I guess I didn't want to remember anything about them. I felt it would be just easier that way. But the more I wished, and pushed back the memories, the easier it was to forget, until one day, I did. And no matter how hard I try, I can't remember. And I didn't want that for Jeremy. But Elena knows what he's been through, and I don't. She has a better judgment on this one." I said and Damon looked sad as well, but the minute that look of sadness came, the quicker it went away. He nodded and walked out. Soon after that, Elena came in and I gave her a hug as she cried into my shoulder.


	8. 162 Candles

"So you and Elena asked Stefan to help?" Sheriff Forbes asked me.

"We thought that if Stefan helped Vicki, it would help Jeremy. " I answered.

"And what was her behavior like those last few days before she left?"

"She was kind of all over the place from what I saw."

"Any signs of aggression or violence?"

"No." I lied.

"So you believe Vicki really has left town?"

"Yes."

-0-

I walked out of the courthouse with Jenna, Jeremy, and Elena. Sheriff Forbes was questioning everyone who knew Vicki to try and figure out where she had gone. But Elena, Stefan, and I knew the truth. I saw Stefan and turned to Elena. "We'll meet you guys at the car." Elena said to Jenna and Jeremy. They nodded as they headed over.

Elena and I walked up to Stefan. "You okay?" Stefan asked us.

Elena and I nodded. "I don't think the sheriff suspected anything." I said.

"Jeremy has no memory at all. All he knew was what Damon made him know." Elena said.

"Thank you." Stefan said.

"I can't do this Stefan. Every time I look a Matt or Jeremy, all I think is that Vicki is never gonna come back, and they'll never know why. Around you, people get hurt, and people die, and I just—I—it's too much. I…" Elena said but I interrupted her before she could continue.

"Why don't we all go somewhere and talk about it?" I asked.

"No," Elena said and she looked back at Stefan. "Stefan, you have to stay away from me." Elena said and she walked off.

Stefan looked back at me. "She just needs a little time to think, that's all. Don't worry about it. I'm sure she'll come around when she's ready." I said to him. Stefan nodded and I smiled back and followed Elena to the car.

-0-

Elena and Jenna were talking in the living room. I was helping Jeremy with homework. Yeah, that's right: homework. "Does that make sense now?" I asked him.

"A little, yeah. Hey could you two keep it down in there?" Jeremy asked Elena and Jenna.

"What are you doing?" Jenna asked.

"Homework." Jeremy said and they both looked up. They looked at me and I just shrugged my shoulders.

"Since when do you do homework?" Elena asked.

"I gotta finish this. I'm way behind, and I have a quiz tomorrow, so…" Jeremy said as he flipped through papers.

"And you asked Maddie to help you?" Elena said as she lifted an eyebrow.

"Hey! Don't judge! I'm a great tutor." I said as I flashed a smile.

"What do you think? Alien?" Elena asked Jenna.

"Some sort of replicant." Jenna said.

"He can hear you." Jeremy said and I giggled. He turned back to me. "So how do you remember all these dates again?"

"Alright…" I said and I continued to explain it to him as Jenna and Elena just kept sending weird looks at us.

-0-

"Is Elena up?" Bonnie asked as she came in the house.

"Probably. Most likely…maybe not." I said as we went up the stairs.

Bonnie opened the door to Elena's room. "Are you up?"

Elena looked at us and rolled back in bed. "No."

Bonnie and I walked up to her bed. "Why haven't you called me back?" She asked.

"I'm sorry."

"Are you gonna stay in there forever?" Bonnie asked.

"Yep."

Bonnie and I just sighed. "Move over." Bonnie said. And Elena did just that and let her in. I got on at the end of the bed in between them. "I'm officially worried. What's going on?"

"I don't really want to talk about it." Elena said.

Bonnie looked at me. "Her and Stefan broke up." I said.

"I'm so sorry." Bonnie said. "Are you ok? Right, stupid question. I know I've been kinda MIA when you need me the most. I suck."

"You wanna make it up to me? Get my mind off it." Elena said.

Bonnie smiled. "Just remember you asked for it." Bonnie closed the window and grabbed a pillow. I sat up on the bed and so did Elena.

Bonnie ripped the pillow open. "Hey!" Elena said as Bonnie dumped the feathers onto the bed.

"Be patient." Bonnie said with a smile still plastered onto her face. Bonnie got on the bed so we were all sitting in a triangle like formation. "Okay, I need to swear you both to secrecy."

My eyes widened and a smile grew on my face. "Oh, I like the sound of that."

"It's kind of a bad week for that kind of stuff." Elena said.

"Swear, 'cause I'm not supposed to be showing you this." Bonnie said.

"Ok, I swear." Elena sighed.

"Ok, there's no windows open, right?" Bonnie asked.

"Right." I said looking around.

"There's no fan, no air conditioning?"

"Nope." I said.

"What are you doing?" Elena asked.

"Grams just showed me this. You'll both love it." Bonnie said. "You ready?"

"Yup!" I exclaimed and Elena nodded.

Bonnie lifted her hand in the air and a feather followed it. I looked at it in amazement and Elena was just confused. "Bonnie, what's going on?" Elena asked and Bonnie's smile widened. She lifted both hands and several feathers floated up. Elena and I were both astonished, and Elena was smiling now with me. Bonnie looked at us and all the feathers went up. We looked around in amazement. Elena stood on her bed, as I stood off the bed and looked around. Elena and I were both laughing

"It's true, Elena and Maddie, everything my grams told me." Bonnie said. Elena covered her mouth and I still looked around. "It's impossible, but it's true. I'm a witch."

Elena nodded and I looked at her. "We believe you." Elena said.

I twirled around in the feathers. "You guys should try this!" I said and we all laughed.

"It's weird, huh? After all this time joking about being psychic, I really am a witch." Bonnie said and we all laughed again. "You don't think I'm a freak now, do you?"

"No, of course not. I mean, Maddie is, but you aren't." Elena said with a smile as she looked at me.

"And I'm proud of it!" I said with a big smile and they both laughed. "But here's what I don't understand. If your grams asked you to keep all this a secret, then why did you tell us?"

"You're my best friends." Bonnie said in a 'duh' tone. "I can't keep secrets from you guys."

"But I've only known you for a couple of months." I said to Bonnie. I understood why she said that to Elena, but I haven't known her as long as she has.

"I know I can trust you." Bonnie said with a smile.

I made a fake evil smile as I pressed my fingers together. "Excellent." I said in a psychotic voice and we all burst out laughing together.

-0-

After Bonnie left, I looked at Elena. "I know what that look is, and the answer is no." Elena said.

"Come on, Elena, just please go and talk to him." I pleaded.

"No," Elena said.

"Come on, I know you and I know you really want to."

"…maybe…"

I grabbed my keys and walked up to her. "Sweet, now let's go." Elena laughed as we headed to the car and we drove to Stefan's house.

"I really don't want to do this." Elena said as we pulled up to Stefan's house.

"Yes, you do." I said.

"Alright fine, I do." Elena smiled and we got out of the car and rang the doorbell.

"It's open. Come on in." We heard a girl say. Elena looked at me and I just shrugged my shoulders as we went in. I opened the door and we walked in. We saw a girl in a towel and she was surprised. "Oh, my god." Elena and I just exchanged glances. "How, uh…wh—who?" She asked.

"Uh, this is Elena and I'm Maddie." I said.

"Who are you?" Elena asked.

"Lexi, a friend of Stefan's." Lexi said.

_Oh no, what does she mean by friend? _"Is he here?" I asked.

"He's in the shower. Um, do you two wanna wait?"

"No," Elena said softly. I looked over at her, and she was even sadder now. _Great, I just had to suggest coming over…_

"I'll tell him you stopped by." Lexi said.

"That's ok." Elena said and hurried out. Lexi looked at me.

"Sorry to barge in." I said and gave a small smile as I ran after Elena.

Elena was running out to the car. "Elena," I called out.

"I didn't want to come. This was all your idea." Elena snapped. I could tell she was really upset.

"I know, I know. But maybe when she said she was his friend, she actually meant friend." I said trying to comfort her.

"Whatever," Elena said as she started the car. She didn't talk to me the whole way home.

-0-

Elena wouldn't come with me to Caroline's party. She was still mad at what happened earlier. I walked into the Grill and it was packed. I saw Caroline, but she was going to talk to someone else. I just kinda wandered around, looking for food. Hey, I was hungry. "Hey," I heard someone say and I spun around.

"Oh, hi." I said as I saw Lexi.

"Sorry, not meaning to stare, but have we met before?" She asked.

"Yeah, we did. You were in a towel at Stefan's house…" I began with a smile.

She laughed. "Right. I remember now." We both laughed.

"So, what are you doing here?" I asked.

"Well, I thought I would drag Stefan down here. It's his birthday." She said.

"Oh, well I will have to tell him Happy Birthday." I said. "So, how old is he?"

"Oh, he's turning 18." She said.

"No, I mean how old is he?" I asked again giving her a look that said, 'no seriously, I know what's going on'.

She nodded. "Oh, so you know." Lexi said.

"Yeah, and I'm guessing you're one too?" I asked.

She smiled. "I like you. You can really pick up on things, can't you?"

"I try," I shrugged and we both laughed.

"162." Lexi said.

My eyes widened. "That's a lot of birthdays." I said. "And you? If you don't mind me asking."

"Let's just say that I'm older." She said.

"Ah, so you actually meant friend." I said.

"Yeah," She said a little confused, then her eyes widened. "Ew, no, nothing like that!" Lexi said as she figured out what I was referring to. We both laughed and Damon walked up to us.

"So, where's Stefan?" Damon asked Lexi.

"He told me he'd meet me here." Lexi said.

"Can I buy…" Damon began but Lexi walked off and I laughed. "What are you laughing at?" Damon asked annoyed.

"Is it not obvious?" I said and turned around and went to look for Bonnie. "Hey Bon!" I said when I finally spotted her.

"Hey Maddie." Bonnie said.

"Hey!" We heard another voice. We looked over and it was Caroline. "I've been looking for you." She said to Bonnie. "I'm totally sorry to do this. I know it's so Indian giver," Caroline said as she pulled Bonnie away.

I just stayed and sipped my drink as Bonnie walked back over. She looked really upset. "What's wrong?" I asked her.

"Caroline just tried to pull my necklace from me." Bonnie said annoyed.

"What is her deal? Wait, lemme guess, Damon wants it back." I said. Bonnie nodded. "Well, whatever you do, don't give it to her or Damon." I said.

"Not planning on it. Grams said it was our ancestors, so technically, it's mine." Bonnie said and I gave her a confused look so she continued. "Grams saw it and it belonged to my great great great great great grandmother. It's a witch talisman. It protects me."

I smiled. "That is so cool." I said and Bonnie smiled.

"Oh, and she also called me fat when I wear it." Bonnie said.

"I can go dump some punch on her." I said and started to walk to the punch bowl but Bonnie just pulled me back and we started laughing.

After a while, I left to go get some more fries and saw Elena walk in. "Elena! You're here."

"Yup, I figured I need to stop wallowing." Elena said.

"…and…" I said with big eyes.

She laughed. "And I'm sorry for being mad. You were just trying to help." Elena said and I smiled. Something caught her attention and I followed her gaze. Lexi and Stefan were playing pool together. I gave her a comforting smile, but that didn't last long, because I saw Damon and he walked over to us.

"Stefan smiles. Alert the media." Damon said.

"Haha very funny." I said sarcastically.

"Yeah, and you haven't given him a lot of reasons to be happy lately." Elena said.

"So basically, don't screw it up." I said.

"You're right, you're both right. Poor Stefan. Persecuted throughout eternity by his depraved brother." Damon said and Elena and I sighed. He leaned over to me. "Does it get tiring being so righteous?"

"Humph. It flares up in the presence of psychopaths." I said as I looked up at him. Elena giggled.

"Ouch. Well, consider this psychopath's feelings hurt."

"Like you have any." I retorted.

"You'd be surprised." Damon smirked.

"You're right, I would be." I said half glaring at him and half annoyed.

"What did you do to my brother?" Elena asked breaking the tension between us.

"I'm gonna need a less vague question." Damon said as he looked at Elena.

"When you did what you did to Jeremy's memory of Vicki, what else did you do to him?"

"You asked me to take away his memories of fangs and rowr and all the bad stuff. You wanted me to take away his suffering."

"But he's acting different. He seems ok with everything and a little too ok. I mean, he's studying. He's not doing drugs. He's not drinking. Are you sure you didn't do something else?"

"Elena, I took away his suffering." Damon said and Elena still didn't get it.

"Meaning, Jeremy only did that stuff because he was suffering; now he's not." I said. Elena made on 'oh' sound as she finally realized. She looked over at Stefan and walked away.

After Elena left, Damon turned to me. "You know," he smirked. "I could buy you a drink."

"You know I don't drink." I scoffed.

"Oh, come on, you'd be a fun drunk." Damon said as he lifted his eyebrows.

My eyes widened. "And now I'm walking away." I said backing up, realizing what he was trying to say. "This is me, walking away." I said as I dashed off. I could just feel the smirk he was giving me.

I finally found Bonnie. "Were you just talking to Damon?" She asked.

"And not enjoying it." I said.

"Do you know what he said to Caroline?"

My eyes widened. "No, what?"

"He called her a shallow, useless waste of space."

My mouth dropped open. "That's it! I'm gonna kill him! Bring me my sword!" I said as I marched towards the bar where Damon was.

Bonnie pulled me back and laughed. "I wonder how you would act if you were drunk."

"Surprisingly, you're not the first one to ask me that. But seriously, I'm gonna kill him." Bonnie just laughed. I looked over and saw Sheriff Forbes and some of her deputies drag Lexi off. "I gotta go. I'll text you later." I said as I ran to follow them out.

I got to the exit and there were two guards blocking it. I saw Stefan and Elena there too. "Sorry, can't go out this way." One of them said and Stefan turned around with Elena and I following him. We ran outside and saw Lexi being shot, and then Damon staked her. I held in a gasp and a sob as Stefan held Elena back and tried to keep her quiet. We looked over and saw Lexi fall to the ground: our eyes were filled with tears. Stefan stormed off and Elena went to chase after him. But I just stayed there. I couldn't move. _How could someone be so cruel? _

After the Sheriff left, Damon walked up to me. "Enjoy the show?"

All of my sadness and hurt turned into anger as I looked up at him. I pushed him back. "What is your problem?! I know you and Stefan don't get along, but this is taking it to a whole new level. He is never, ever going to forgive you, and you have to deal with that for the rest of eternity!" I screamed and Damon looked surprised at my reaction. "I don't understand how someone could be so cruel and horrible and emotionless and…ugh! Do you have no compassion at all?!" I yelled. He didn't answer; he was still shocked that I was yelling at him. _Why is he so surprised that I'm pissed off? _

I just rolled my eyes and started walking away, but I stopped as I felt a migraine come on. I held onto my head in pain as I fell to my knees. "Maddie?" I heard Damon say as I felt someone try to help me up. But it was no use. My head was pounding and I heard so many voices. The pain was so overwhelming that I fainted.


	9. History Repeating

**Third Person POV**

Damon was secretly amused that he was being yelled at by Maddie. When she saw he wasn't reacting, she turned around to leave. Damon watched her go, but then saw her grab her head and fall to the ground. "Maddie?" Damon asked as he tried to help her up and then she fell limp in his arms. He looked at her confused. _What just happened? _He thought. He looked around, picked her up, and flashed to Elena's house. He went through the window and laid Maddie in her bed. He looked at her confused one last time and then left.

-0-

**Maddie's POV**

"_I don't know what's going on! What's happening to me?"_

"_Relax, love, you'll be fine."_

"_But I just killed someone. How could I be fine with that?"_

"_Don't worry, we'll work it out." _

"_How? How do you think we could possibly fix this?"_

"_Just relax, it'll be fine. I promise."_

I opened my eyes as the images and voices faded away. I sat up and looked around; I was in my bed at Elena's house. _What just happened? _  
I looked over at my clock: 6:37 A.M.

I sat in my bed confused as Elena walked in. "Hey, where did you go last night?"

"I...I...uh..." I said trying to remember what happened last night.

"And why did you sleep in your clothes?" Elena laughed.

I looked down and saw I was still in my clothes and then I finally remembered, although it wasn't much. "Well, I was yelling at Damon, and here I am..." I said still trying to remember more of what happened.

"You yelled at Damon?" Elena asked surprised.

"Yeah." I said like it was no big deal.

Elena laughed. "You're crazy."

"And don't we all know it!" I said and Elena laughed. She left to finish getting ready and I started getting ready, still confused on how I got home last night.

-0-

"Have you even talked to Bonnie?" Elena asked Caroline.

"No. I'm mad at her. She needs to make the first move." Caroline said. We were at school and Caroline was talking about how Bonnie wouldn't give her back her necklace. _Well, it is Bonnie's so I can see why she wouldn't want to give it back, especially because Damon wants it._

"Be the bigger person." Elena said.

"Impossible in her presence." Caroline said and I had to hold back a laugh. _Impossible period. Even I know Caroline isn't big on being the bigger person._

'Why are you so pissed at her, anyway?" Elena asked.

"She's a thief, that's why. I gave her my necklace, and she refused to give it back." Caroline said.

"If I recall, you told Bonnie to 'keep it, toss it, I don't care, I just want it gone.'" I interjected.

"And now I want it back. It's a matter of principle." Caroline said.

"All right, well, I tried. I'm officially out of it." Elena said.

"Good, your turn." Caroline said. "Where's Stefan? Have you talked to him?"

"He's avoiding me." Elena said.

"Why?" Caroline asked and Elena didn't respond.

"It's complicated." I finally said.

The bell rang and Elena and I both waved goodbye to Caroline. Elena and I both ran into history. Today was the day we got our new history teacher. The bell rang and we scrambled to our seats. "Good morning, everyone." The new teacher said as he went to the chalkboard. Bonnie ran in at the last minute and sat down at her seat. _Why am I halfway across the room, but Elena and Bonnie are sitting right next to each other? Stupid seating chart! _"Alrighty…" He grabbed some chalk and was writing on the board. "A-L-A-R-I-C-S-A-L-T-Z-M-A-N." He said as he spelled his name on the board. "Alaric Saltzman. It's a mouthful, I know. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Saltzman is of German origins. My family emigrated here in 1755 to Texas. I, however, was born and raised in Boston." Mr. Saltzman said. I looked over at Elena and mouthed if Bonnie was ok. She only responded by shrugging her shoulders. "Now, the name Alaric belongs to a very dead great-grandfather I will never be able to thank enough. You'll probably want to pronounce it 'Ala-ric,' but it's 'A-lar-ic,' ok? So you can call me Rick. I'm your new history teacher." Alaric finished. _Please don't be boring like the last one._

-0-

At lunch, we met up with Bonnie. She was explaining a dream she had and how it was freaking her out. "And then I ended up at the remains of Old Fell's Church before I woke up back in the woods." Bonnie said.

"And Emily is the only ancestor you see every time?" I asked. She just nodded. "Maybe she's trying to tell you something." I suggested.

"Do you believe in ghosts?" Bonnie asked us.

"Yeah," I quickly responded.

Elena sighed. "Maddie, you believe in everything."

"Is that a bad thing?" I asked taking a sip of my lemonade.

Elena shook her head and turned back to Bonnie. "2 weeks ago, I'd say no, but now…" Elena started.

"I think I'm being haunted." Bonnie said.

"I don't get it." Elena said thinking.

"Yeah, why would Emily haunt you?" I asked.

"Grams said she was a powerful witch back in the civil war days and that this medallion was hers, it's a witch's talisman."

"So it all started when you got the necklace, right?" I asked.

Bonnie nodded. "I think she's using it to communicate with me."

"Ok, what does Grams say about it?" Elena asked.

"I can't call her. She's gonna tell me to embrace it. I don't want to embrace it. I want it to stop." Bonnie said.

I sat there thinking for a while. Elena had left and I was still with Bonnie. After Elena left, Bonnie and I got up and started walking to her car. I spoke up. "You do realize though you can't give it back to Damon."

"Why not?" Bonnie asked.

"Because he desperately wants it. I don't know what for, but it's yours, it's a witch's talisman. You need to keep it." I said.

"Yeah I guess you're right. But I don't want all this weird stuff happening." Bonnie said.

I nodded and we were silent for a minute, until Bonnie ran into Damon. "This is your last chance." Damon said.

"I'm gonna scream." Bonnie said as she tried to walk around him.

"Oh, no, don't do that. Let's stay on point." Damon said as he walked with us.

"If she doesn't, I will." I said and Damon glared at me.

"Listen," Damon whispered. "I want MY necklace." Damon said louder.

"YOU can't have it." Bonnie said through gritted teeth.

"Well, I can't take it, but you can give it to me. Or Maddie, would you like to get it for me?" Damon said as he looked at me and smirked.

"You're kidding, right?" I said with an annoyed look on my face.

"Look, I'm trying to help." Damon said to Bonnie.

"I don't want your help." Bonnie said annoyed.

"Yeah, why don't you just back off?" I said just as annoyed as Bonnie had said it.

"You do want my help, and you don't even know it. You know why, you little witch? 'Cause you have stumbled into something you need to stumble out of." Damon said and if looks could kill, he'd be dead right now by the looks Bonnie and I were giving him.

"Leave me alone, or I swear I'll…" Bonnie began but Damon interrupted her as he stepped in front of her car.

"Ooh, don't. No threats. Look, A—you hurt my last time. B—I wish you no harm. Same goes for you." Damon said as he looked at me. "Believe it or not, I wanna protect you. Let me help you get Emily off your back." Damon said. _How does he know about Emily? …..Must have something to do with_ _Katherine..._I started thinking

"How do you know about Emily?" Bonnie asked.

"I know a lot of things," Damon said getting up from the car. This caused Bonnie to back away. "And I know more about that crystal than you do. And I know that she's using it to creep inside of you."

"Or maybe she's warning her about psychopaths like you." I glared.

"You know," Damon said walking towards me until he backed me up into the car behind me. "You need to watch that little tongue of yours because it could get into a lot of trouble." Damon said and I just rolled my eyes. Damon looked over at Bonnie; she looked frightened of what Damon said about Emily. "See, you're scared now. And you should be, because I will get that crystal, even if I have to wait for Emily to give it to me herself. So next time she comes out to play, you tell her…" Damon said as he reached back and opened the door to Bonnie's car. "That a deal's a deal." He said as he nodded towards the car. Bonnie got in the car and closed the door. Damon looked at me and smirked. "Problem?" Damon asked once Bonnie's door was shut.

"Yeah, you're my problem." I said and turned around to walk over to the passenger's side.

"You're not even going to ask me how I know Emily?" Damon asked.

I turned around again and glared at him. "No, because I'm pretty sure it has something to do with Katherine, so I'll pass." I said and he just smirked again. "Why do you even need Bonnie's crystal anyway?" I asked.

"First off, it's my crystal," Damon said as he walked up to me until he was standing right in front of me. "Second, that's for me to know, and for you," he said tapping my nose, where I just responded with lifting my eyebrows. "To figure out." He finished before he walked away.

-0-

"He's bad news, Elena. He really scared me." Bonnie said. After the whole Damon encounter, Bonnie picked up Elena and we were heading home.

"You need to stay as far away from Damon as possible." Elena said from the back seat.

"I'm trying. He just keeps showing up." Bonnie said.

I looked at Elena and she just nodded. "We don't want you to be alone tonight. You're staying at our place and we can make a whole night out of it." I said to Bonnie. She looked down at her crystal and pulled over to the side of the road.

"Whoa." Elena said and I held onto the car door handle. Bonnie got out of the car and Elena and I exchanged glances. "Where are you going?" Elena asked.

Bonnie took off her necklace and threw it into the sagebrush as far as she could and walked back to the car. Elena and I exchanged glances again once she got back in the car. "Are you ok?" I asked.

"Now I am. All of my problems were because of that thing. Can't believe I didn't do that sooner." Bonnie said.

"What's your Grams gonna say?" Elena asked.

"Grams isn't the one being haunted by a 150-year-old ghost, is she?" Bonnie asked.

"Ok, then." Elena said.

"What about Damon?" I asked.

"What about him?" Bonnie asked.

"Well, if he….I mean if…nevermind." I said and Bonnie started the car up again and started driving.

-0-

The doorbell rang and Elena and I both knew it was Stefan. Elena went to answer the door and I just stayed in the kitchen with Bonnie. "Why's Stefan here? I don't want to drag him into this." Bonnie said.

"Because he can deal with Damon." I said.

"How?"

"Look, Bonnie. Don't worry. We'll figure this out." I said, not really believing a word I said.

-0-

The doorbell rang again and Elena let Caroline in. Caroline had brought some stuff over because we were all having a girl's night. And we wanted Bonnie and Caroline to make up. Caroline and I were taking the stuff out of the bag. I looked at Caroline and nodded towards Bonnie. She sighed and turned to Bonnie. "I'm sorry." Bonnie looked up in surprise. "There. I said it. If you want the ugly-ass necklace, keep it." Elena sighed and I mentally facepalmed. "It's yours." Caroline said with a smile.

Bonnie didn't know what to say at first. "Will you hate me if I tell you I threw it away?"

Caroline was surprised and annoyed. "You threw it away?!"

"I know it sounds crazy, but the necklace was giving me nightmares. I had to get rid of it." Bonnie explained.

"You could have just given it back to me." Caroline retorted.

"So you could give it back to Damon?" I asked not really mad, but just as a 'that's kinda the only reason you want it' tone.

Caroline sighed. "Screw Damon. Are we doing manicures or what? Who has their kit?"

"Mine's in my bag." Bonnie said. Caroline smiled and went to go get her bag.

"So, Elena. How long do you think this fight with Stefan's gonna last? Is it like a permanent thing?" Caroline asked.

"I don't know, Caroline." Elena sighed.

"Heh. Why are you such a little liar, Bonnie?" Caroline asked annoyed as she turned around and looked at Bonnie.

"What?" Bonnie said surprised and annoyed at what Caroline said.

"Caroline!" Elena exclaimed.

"What's your deal?" I asked annoyed as well. She pulled out the necklace Bonnie threw out. Elena and I exchanged glances as Bonnie looked horrified.

Caroline put the necklace on the counter and waited for Bonnie to give her an explanation. "I'm not lying to you, Caroline." Bonnie said.

"It's true." I said. "We watched her throw it into a field."

"Well, then explain it." Caroline said.

"Emily." Bonnie said as she looked at Elena and me.

"Who's Emily?" Caroline asked.

"The ghost." Bonnie said ignoring Caroline. Bonnie was starting to freak out.

"Oh, the ghost has a name now?" Caroline commented a little annoyed.

"Caroline, please." Elena said as she tried to shut Caroline up.

"But why?" I asked more to myself.

"Why won't she leave me alone?" Bonnie asked.

"Ok, what is going on?" Caroline asked. "Why am I not a part of this conversation? You guys do this to me all the time. And now you're involving Maddie."

"That's not true." Elena said.

"Yes, it is." Bonnie said and Elena and I looked at Bonnie. Bonnie looked back at Caroline. "I can't talk to you. You don't listen."

"That's not true!" Caroline exclaimed.

"I'm a witch." Bonnie said trying to tell Caroline.

"And don't we all know it?" Caroline retorted.

"See? That's what I'm talking about. I'm trying to tell you something. You don't even hear it." Bonnie said with a sad look and walked off.

Caroline turned back to us. "I listen. When do I not listen?" Caroline asked. Elena sighed and I physically facepalmed. "What?"

"Bonnie just told you she was a witch." I said.

"Yeah…and?" Caroline asked.

"Witch…spells…magic…" I said trying to help her.

"Oh," Caroline said as she realized. "You mean as a joke? Like what we have been laughing at for months." Caroline said.

"Yeah….minus the joking." I said.

"You should go talk to her." Elena said.

Caroline just blinked as she processed everything and went to talk to Bonnie.

"Could you be a little more subtle?" Elena said sarcastically in a playful tone.

"Nope." I said popping the 'p' and Elena giggled as we listened to Caroline talk to Bonnie.

"And I'm saying this knowing Maddie and Elena are in the kitchen listening to every word." We heard Caroline say and we both chuckled. After a few seconds, we heard Caroline yell, "Elena, Maddie, you can come in now. We're done." Elena and I peeped around the corner and both walked in. "Well, there is just way too much drama in this room." Caroline said.

"Agreed." I said.

"So, what do you guys wanna do?" Caroline asked. Elena shrugged her shoulders and Caroline gasped. "I have an idea. Why don't we have a seance?" Caroline said with a big smile.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Bonnie said.

"Come on, guys, where's your sense of adventure? I say we do it!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, let's summon some spirits. This Emily chick has some serious explaining to do." Caroline said.

Elena and I went to look for candles. When we got enough, we all lit them and Bonnie placed them in a circle. We all sat around the candles and held each others hands. "What are we doing?" Bonnie asked.

"I don't know." Elena answered.

"Shhh." I said.

"Be quiet and concentrate." Caroline said. "Ok, close your eyes." We all closed our eyes. "Ok, now take a deep breath." We all took a deep breath. "Now Bonnie, call to her."

"Emily…" Bonnie said a little annoyed. "You there?"

"Really? 'Emily, you there?' That's all you got?" Caroline asked as we all opened our eyes and looked at Bonnie. "Come on." Caroline urged.

"Yeah Bonnie, just try." I said.

"Alright, fine. Jeez." Bonnie said and we all closed our eyes again. "Emily. I call on you. I know you have a message. I'm here to listen." We were quiet for a couple of seconds and then the candles lit even higher.

"Did that just…" Elena began.

"Yeah, that just happened." Caroline said.

"And now we're all gonna die." I said looking up.

"We're not gonna die." Elena said.

"Goodbye cruel world." I said ignoring Elena and acted like I was going to cry.

"Shut up, Maddie, this is serious." Caroline said freaking out. She gasped and so did everyone else as we felt a chill.

"It's just the air conditioning." Bonnie said, even though she didn't believe it. The lights flickered even higher now on the candles and we all gasped.

"Ask her to show you a sign. Ask her." Caroline urged but Bonnie just shook her head. Elena was frightened and I was waiting for something to happen next. "Emily, if you're among us, show us another sign." Caroline said looking at the candles.

We looked at the candles and everyone was terrified. I had to admit, even I was getting a little scared. "See, it's not working." Bonnie said. We looked at the candles a while longer and the window flew open. Bonnie and Elena backed up and Bonnie stood up. "Nope, that's it. I'm done." Bonnie said as she took off her necklace and threw it by the candles and then the candles went out. "Get the light on. Someone please hurry and get the light on." Bonnie yelled.

"Hold on, hold on. I got it." Elena said as she ran over and turned on the light.

Bonnie looked down and looked as if she was going to be sick. "Guys, the necklace. It's gone." She said and we all looked to where she threw it and gasped.

We searched around the room to find the necklace. "Alright Caroline, you had your fun. You made your point, and I get it, now give it back." Elena said.

"What? Well, I didn't take it." Caroline defended.

Elena sighed. "Elena, I was right by Caroline the whole time. She didn't take it." I said.

Elena and Bonnie gasped as they looked behind me and Caroline.

"What? What is it?" Caroline asked and we both looked out the door.

"I don't know. Nothing." Elena said as she walked out. "Jeremy, are you home?"

Bonnie looked around until something caught her eye. "Um," Bonnie said as she walked towards the bathroom. "Guys…" She said and we all walked behind her and followed her. We looked at her as she picked up the necklace and then all the doors in the bathroom closed. "AHHHHH! Oh my God!" Bonnie screamed.

"Bonnie?" Elena and Caroline said as they tried to open the door. I ran around to the other side and tried to open the other door from the hallway.

"You got to open the door!" Bonnie screamed.

"Bonnie!" We all screamed and the lights started flickering.

"Get me out!" Bonnie kept screaming.

"We can't get it open!" Elena screamed as she came to my side.

I backed up and started kicking the door. "It's no use! It's not budging! Bonnie!" I screamed pounding on the door. Elena and I ran over to the other side and started pounding on the door with Caroline and then the lights stopped flickering and we heard the lock twist. We all looked at each other and I opened the door. Bonnie was in the bathroom covering her eyes. "Bonnie, are you ok?" I asked as we were all panting.

"What happened?" Elena asked.

Bonnie uncovered her eyes and looked at us. "I'm fine." She said in a calm voice.

"Unbelievable." I heard Caroline say behind me. "You were totally faking it." Caroline said.

"Caroline…" Elena began.

"No, you scared the hell out of me." Caroline yelled as she walked off. I just stared at Bonnie the whole time. Something didn't feel right.

"Bonnie?" Elena asked.

"I'm fine. Everything's fine." Bonnie said as she walked past me and Elena.

"I can't believe I fell for it." Caroline said as Bonnie left Elena's room and we followed after her.

"Are you ok?" Elena asked ignoring Caroline.

"I must go." Bonnie said.

"She's leaving, I'm leaving." Caroline said.

"You guys can't leave." Elena said.

"Oh, I can. I've had enough freaky fake witch stuff for one night." Caroline said as she and Elena were arguing at the top of the stairs as I just followed Bonnie down the stairs.

"Thank you for having me. I'll take it from here." Bonnie said as she turned around and looked at us.

"Where are you going?" Elena asked.

"Back to where it all began." Bonnie said.

"Bonnie." Elena said and I realized what was happening.

"Emily!" I said and Elena and Caroline looked at me as Emily turned around, in Bonnie's body.

"I won't let him have it." Emily said. "It must be destroyed."

"Wait!" Elena yelled. But I was already running after her. I ran out the door before it closed, locking Elena and Caroline in.

"Emily, wait!" I yelled as I followed her.

"He can't have it!" Emily said.

"Who? Who can't have it? Who can't have what?" I asked.

"Damon. He must not have the necklace." Emily said as she kept walking faster. I followed her as close as I could in the dark until I realized where she was going…fell's church.

"Do you not realize what will happen if Damon doesn't get what he wants?" I said trying to stop her.

"I'm well aware." Emily said as she walked through the woods.

"Hello, Emily, Maddie." I heard Damon say as we walked through the forest a bit. "You look different." Damon said to Emily.

"I won't let you do it." Emily said as she stopped and looked at Damon.

"We had a deal."

"Things are different now. I need to protect my family."

"I protected your family. You owe me." Damon said. I was just standing off to the side. I can now say that I had no idea what they were talking about, but I knew it had to do with the crystal.

"I know. I'm sorry."

"You're about to be a lot more than that." Damon said as he lunged for Emily but she threw him back with a force of power into a tree where a branch was sticking out of his stomach.

Emily walked off and grabbed a stick and created a circle. I couldn't move. And I mean, I literally couldn't move. "Emily, what's going on?" I said.

"I don't want to hurt you, so you must stay there." Emily said and I figured out she used a spell to keep me from moving.

Stefan quickly came and pulled Damon off of the tree. Damon grunted in pain. "Ugh, that hurt." Damon said.

"Hello, Stefan." Emily said.

"Hello Emily." Stefan said.

"These people don't deserve this. They should never have to know such evil." Emily said.

"What do you mean evil?" Stefan asked.

"Emily, I swear to God I'll make you regret this." Damon said.

"I won't let you unleash them into this world." Emily said.

"Unleash who? What's going on? Kinda can't move here." I said from my frozen position.

"Them?" Stefan asked. He turned to Damon. "What part of the story did you leave out, Damon?" Stefan asked.

"What does it matter?" Damon asked still on the ground in pain.

"Emily, tell me what you did." Stefan said.

"To save her, I had to save them." Emily said and I felt a release of the pressure holding me and fell to my knees.

"You saved everyone in the church?" Stefan asked.

"Wait, this is about Katherine?" I asked once Stefan mentioned the church.

"Yes." Emily said answering my question and then turned to Stefan. "With one comes all."

"I don't care about that. I just want Katherine." Damon said as he slowly stood up.

I looked at Emily and felt her starting to do something, although I couldn't tell what. "Guys," I said starting to feel anxious.

"I knew I shouldn't have believed a single word that comes out of your mouth." Stefan said as he turned to Damon.

"Guys," I said a little louder as I watched Emily pacing around.

"This isn't about love, is it? This is about revenge." Stefan said.

"The two aren't mutually exclusive." Damon said.

"Damon, you can't do this!" Stefan exclaimed.

"Guys," I said louder trying to get their attention but I was feeling too weak to stand. I felt like Emily was going to do something, and I was starting to get really scared.

"Why not? They killed 27 people, and they called it a war battle. They deserve whatever they get." Damon said.

"27 vampires, Damon. They were vampires. You can't just bring them back!" Stefan exclaimed.

"This town deserves this."

"You're blaming innocent people for something that happened 145 years ago."

"There is nothing innocent about these people, and don't think for a second it won't happen again." Damon yelled. "They already know too much, and they'll burn your little grandwitch right next to us when they find out. Trust me." Damon said to Emily.

"Things are different now." Emily said. I slowly started to stand up as I regained some of my strength.

"Don't do this." Damon pleaded.

"I can't free them. I won't." Emily said.

I got behind Damon and Stefan. "Guys," I said and they looked at me. "Back up." I said as I grabbed their wrists and pulled just as a circle of fire encircled Emily.

"No!" Damon screamed once he saw the ring of fire. Emily raised the necklace as Damon continued to plead no.

"Bonnie!" I heard Elena scream and Stefan went to hold her back and I was still next to Damon. Emily threw the necklace up in the air and it exploded everywhere. I looked at Damon and then back at Emily. Damon looked about ready to kill her once the ring of fire was gone and Emily lowered her head and Bonnie came through.

Bonnie looked around and I turned to Stefan. "Stop him!" I yelled as Damon lunged for Bonnie. I ran over as Damon grabbed Bonnie and Stefan flashed by him as he pulled him off of her. Elena came running up and Bonnie was lying on the ground. _If she's dead, Damon's dead._

Stefan lowered his head to where her heart was. "She's alive, but barely. I can save her." Stefan said as he bit into his arm.

I knelt down to get a better look at Bonnie. Well, actually, that was a lie. I was still weak from whatever Emily did to me. Stefan fed her his blood from what it looked like and Bonnie's neck started healing.

"Her neck. It's healing." Elena said. I breathed a sigh of relief and sat back. I looked over at Damon and instead of angry, he looked hurt. I was guessing it was because of the fact that the necklace was the only way he would see Katherine again.

-0-

"I don't get it. He attacked me, and…his face was like…" Bonnie said once we got her back to the car. We were still in the woods, and Bonnie was trying to process what had just occurred with Damon.

"How do you feel? Are you ok?" Elena asked.

"I'm fine. It's-it's just this blood. I don't…" Bonnie began but her eyes grew wide in fear. Elena and I turned around and saw Stefan.

"I'm not going to hurt you." Stefan said.

"Maddie, Elena, what's going on?" Bonnie asked.

"We'll explain everything Bonnie, ok?" Elena asked.

"Yeah, let's just get out of here." I said.

Bonnie was looking over at Stefan and was still scared. "Bonnie, Bonnie, look at me." Elena said. "Trust me, he's not going to hurt you."

"Now Damon on the other hand…." I began.

"Maddie, not now." Elena said annoyed. "Come on." She said to Bonnie as she led her to the passenger side.

"What I do?" I asked but Elena ignored me as she helped Bonnie into the car.

I turned to Stefan. "Is she going to become…" I started.

"No, no. She has to die with my blood in her system, so keep an eye on her tonight and make sure that nothing happens, and once it leaves her system, she'll be fine." Stefan said.

"We're going to have to tell her the truth." I said.

Stefan nodded. "Are you sure?" He asked.

"We can trust her, plus, I know it would be nice for Elena to not have to keep the secret from her." I said.

"Yeah, I know. And she shouldn't have to live in a secret. You both shouldn't have to." Stefan said.

"You saved her life." Elena said as she came up to Stefan. "I thought that I couldn't be with you, but I can." Elena said and I knew it was my time to take my leave.

I walked around to the car and Bonnie was leaning against the seat with her eyes closed, trying to calm down. I smiled and heard something behind me. I turned around and saw something between the trees. I started to walk towards it. An image flashed through my mind.

"_Come on, it's just a bit further." A girl said as the other girl followed._

"_You keep saying that over and over." The other girl said and they both laughed._

"Maddie." I heard someone say as they shook me. I blinked a couple of times and saw Damon. He was holding onto my arms. "You all right?" He asked.

I looked around and realized I wasn't by the car anymore. "Yeah…I'm…" I said trying to process what happened.

"Maddie? Where are you?" I heard Elena yell.

I turned my head to where I heard her voice and I could faintly see the car. "I gotta go." I said and headed back to the car. I turned around as I got there and I saw Damon was gone.

"Where did you go?" Elena asked. Her eyes were watering.

"I thought I saw…Are you alright?" I started but then asked once I noticed her eyes were watering. She didn't really answer, so I guess what happened. She wanted to be with Stefan, but he pushed her away. I pulled her into a hug and she sobbed in my shoulder.

When we got home, we told Bonnie everything that happened and we were all sobbing. Well, mostly Elena and Bonnie were, but my eyes were watering a bit.

I heard the doorbell ring and I went to go answer it. I got in the hallway and saw Jenna opened the door. I gasped at who I saw on the other side: Logan Fell.


	10. The Turning Point

"Why are you here, Logan?" Jenna asked.

"I missed you. I was out of town. I…" Logan began.

"Yeah. I got that email." Jenna said.

"You got an email?" Logan questioned.

"You didn't send an email?" Jenna asked.

"I can explain everything. Just invite me in, and I'll tell you everything." Logan said.

"Don't invite him in, Jenna." I said to Jenna, causing both of them to look at me.

"Hello, Maddie. It's good to see you too." Logan said and I just glared.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna invite him in." Jenna said and she turned to Logan. "Forget it."

"Come on, Jenna. It's me." Logan said.

"The answer's no."

"I know you. You're always one step from a maybe, a tiny nudge to yes."

"Heh. You just pointed out that I have no self-control. Clever strategy." Jenna scoffed and slammed the door in his face. I let out a smile as I ran back to Elena's room, both of them still in tears. _Maybe I'll tell them later…_

-0-

After I got ready for school, I walked downstairs to make some toast. Today was Career Day. "Jeremy's got his sketch pad out." Elena said as she came down the stairs. I looked over into the hallway.

"You're kidding." Jenna said.

"Nope." Elena said.

"I'm officially confused now." I said biting into my toast.

"Jeremy used to sketch all the time before our parents died. He's really good too." Elena said.

"Ah," I said as I continued eating my toast.

"But don't say a word, the minute we encourage him, he'll pull away." Elena said to Jenna and me.

"Psychology major. Check that." Jenna said as she grabbed her coat. We both noticed Elena looking at her phone and I felt really bad for her. "You and Stefan?" Jenna asked.

"He knows how I feel and where I stand, and I know where he stands, but it doesn't matter. He's leaving, moving away." Elena said.

"Where's he going?" Jenna asked concerned.

"I've stopped asking questions. The answers get scary." Elena said as she opened the door.

"And complicated." I added as we got outside.

"Yours leaves. Mine returns." Jenna said.

My eyes widened. "Oh no!" I said and Elena looked at me. "I forgot to tell you…"

"Logan?" Elena asked.

Jenna nodded. "He's back. I didn't let him past the front door."

"Hope you slammed it in his face." Elena said.

"Oh she did, though it was more of a medium slam." I said.

"Three strikes, Jenna. You're not even allowed to watch the news." Elena said.

"Exactly. No more Logan 'Scum' Fell." Jenna said.

"Plus, the news is really boring." I added and we all giggled.

-0-

I was walking outside from the library. I had gotten behind on some of my homework, so I was hanging out there all morning. I walked to the building when I saw Stefan. _I thought he left town. What is he doing here? _As soon as he saw me, I waved him over. "Hey." He said when he approached.

"Hey, I thought you left. Does Elena know you're still here?" I asked.

"Yeah, I, uh, just got done talking to her." Stefan said and I figured he was telling her goodbye. "There's another vampire in town." Stefan said and my eyes widened.

"Another vampire? What makes you think that?" I asked.

"There was another attack." Stefan said.

"And you're sure it wasn't…" I began.

"No, I'm not sure, but Damon has been trying to keep a low profile, so it doesn't make sense to me. They would have to be new to town. The attack was really sloppy." Stefan said.

"So, what are you gonna do?" I asked.

"Damon's tracking him right now, but, just be careful, ok?" Stefan said.

"Psh, I'm always careful." I joked.

Stefan cracked a smile. "Seriously, though, I want you and Elena safe."

"Don't worry, Stefan. Like you said, Damon's handling it." I said knowing that wouldn't make me or Stefan feel any better.

"Somehow, that doesn't sound very reassuring." Stefan said cracking a smile.

I giggled. "Don't worry, I'll be careful." Stefan gave me a small smile and we parted ways.

-0-

I hadn't really seen much of anyone today. I was walking around, looking at the different displays. I was looking at the paintings of different nature settings. _I wish I could draw like that. Even my stick figures don't even look like stick figures. _

I sat there for a while looking at the paintings, then I felt a headache start to rise. _Oh no, not again! _ I thought as I ran to the bathroom. Luckily, no one was in it. I held onto my head as the pain increased.

"_I swear! I'm not making fun of you this time! They're really good." A girl said._

"_Nice to know someone appreciates my work. They are rather fantastic." The boy smirked._

_The girl just shook her head and smiled. "And that is why you never receive compliments." She said and they both laughed._

The pain had subsided. _What are these? Visions? _I thought about it as I got up from the bathroom floor. I wanted to tell someone about them. Anyone. But I felt like I shouldn't. _Maybe I'll tell Elena once this whole vampire thing subsides. _

-0-

I walked around looking for Elena, but found Jenna instead. "What's up, Jenna?" I asked.

"Logan's here." Jenna said.

"Great," I sighed as we walked into a classroom where Elena and Stefan were.

"Hide me." Jenna said to Elena.

"Why, what's going on?" Elena asked.

"Logan's 'Scum' Fell is in the building." I said.

Elena sighed. "Wait, Logan Fell is here?" Stefan asked. Jenna and I nodded and Stefan walked out of the classroom. We all exchanged glances and I followed after Stefan while Elena and Jenna were talking.

"What's going on?" I asked as Stefan was looking around. He looked over and we both saw Logan. He just looked at us and waved. "Stefan?" I said looking between Stefan and Logan.

Elena and Jenna walked out of the classroom as Logan walked up to us. "Jenna, are you dodging me?" Logan asked.

"It's a form of soft preservation." Jenna said annoyed.

"Um, Elena, Maddie, why don't you three go somewhere else." Stefan said and nodded at us.

We both nodded back. "Jenna, let's go." Elena said as she drug Jenna away and I followed.

"When Logan came to the house, what did he say?" Elena asked Jenna as I was trying to process what was going on.

"Fake flattery. Stupid, dimpled grin. Puppy dog eyes." Jenna groaned.

"I'm serious, Jenna. How did he act? What did he say?" Elena asked.

My eyes widened. "He kept asking to come in." I said realizing what Logan was. I walked away looking for Stefan. _He probably knows already._

"What?" Elena asked more towards Jenna than me as I walked away.

I walked outside of the building and saw Stefan pacing back and forth. "Stefan," I said getting his attention. "Not sure if you already know, but…"

"Yeah, I know." Stefan said getting out his phone.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Calling Damon." Stefan said as he put the phone up to his ear. "Logan's a vampire…" Stefan said as he started his conversation with Damon, but I couldn't really hear what Damon was saying on the other end. "You ok?" He asked and I heard Damon basically say how he was pissed. "Well, there's no need, he's here at the school. He's working the crowd."

"Well, I'll be right there." I heard Damon say on the other end.

Stefan put his phone in his pocket and I looked at him. "So, how did all of this happen?" I asked.

"Vicki fed on Logan when she turned. But he must have been fed some vampire blood before he died." Stefan clarified.

"Who turned him?" I asked.

"We don't know."

"What does he want?"

"We don't know that either."

"Well, this is just perfect." I sighed.

-0-

I was walking with Stefan, in search for Logan. "Hey," I said as we passed Matt. "Have you seen Logan?" I asked.

"Yeah, he just gave Caroline a ride home." Matt said and he walked off.

"I swear, that girl and vampires." I said.

"Stay here." Stefan said as he walked off. I was getting worried now. _Caroline seriously needs to start taking vervain showers or something._

-0-

I found Elena and told her what happened. We were waiting at the school, worried. I looked over and saw Stefan. Elena followed my gaze and we walked up to Stefan. "Where's Caroline, is she ok?" I asked.

"Yeah, she's fine. I took her home. She was shaken up, but all she knows is Logan attacked her. Nothing else." Stefan said.

"And where's Logan?" I asked.

"Damon's dealing with him." Stefan said.

Elena and I both nodded, understanding what he meant. Stefan nodded at me, and I got the message; he needed to talk to Elena alone. I gave Elena a small smile before I left.

I walked around the halls in search for Jeremy. "Actually, it makes you very stupid." I heard Logan say outside.

I walked over and peered through the door and I saw Alaric and Logan. _Oh no! He's gonna kill Alaric! _I thought, but kept myself hidden. If I ran out, Logan would probably kill me too. "And why's that?" Alaric asked and I saw something slip out between his fingers.

"Because you have no idea who you are dealing with." Logan said as he turned to bite Alaric. I almost ran out, but I saw Alaric stake Logan. I hid behind the wall so he couldn't see, breathing heavily.

My phone buzzed and I tried to calm down before I answered it. "Hello?" I said still freaking out.

"Come get me now." Elena said. She sounded pissed.

"Where are you? And don't you have your car?" I asked.

"I'm at Stefan's and the car is where I left it. Hurry! I'll meet you on the way." Elena said and hung up.

Elena sounded urgent, so I ran to the car and sped over to the boarding house. Elena was running. She was probably about half a mile from the house when I got there. She ran in the car. "Drive." She said, tears filling her eyes.

"Wait what's wrong?" I said as I started the car and headed home.

"I look exactly like her." Elena said starting to cry.

"You're gonna have to clarify. I have no clue what you're talking about." I said.

"I was at Stefan's, and I found a picture of Katherine. We look exactly alike." Elena said.

I looked at her with wide eyes. "What?" I said and she just looked at me with tears falling down her face.

She looked back at the road. "Maddie, look out!" Elena screamed and I looked at the road; there was someone standing in the middle of it. I slammed on my breaks, but we still collided with the person and the car started flipping. Elena and I were screaming and holding onto whatever we could as the car continued to flip until we landed upside down.

I gasped as I looked around. I looked at Elena and she was out cold. "Elena!" I screamed. She didn't respond. I looked out in the road to where I hit that guy and he started to stand up. I tried to get out, but it was no use; I was stuck. The man started walking over to us and I let out a scream.


	11. Bloodlines

I tried to get out, but it was no use. I looked over at Elena and she was still out cold, well, at least I hoped she was out cold. I continued to try to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. I felt another headache start to creep in. _Oh no, not now! _ I thought as I saw the figure get closer. I saw it stop right in front of the car and I screamed, but then it ran off. I was confused and then I saw someone look at me as I let out another scream.

I saw it was Damon. "How are you doing in there?" He asked looking at me.

I was feeling a lot of pain from the headache, not to mention the pain from being stuck. "Damon?" I said as I felt myself start to wince in pain.

"You look stuck." Damon said as he got up.

"No," I said and Damon looked back at me again. "Get Elena out first." I said. Damon looked as if he was about to say no, but then rushed over to Elena's side and got her out. I winced in pain as the car moved a little as he got Elena out.

"I can't get out." I winced. "My seat belt…" I began.

"Don't worry, I'm gonna get you out." Damon said and he was over at my side now. "I want you to put your hands on the roof. Just like that." Damon said as I did what he said. "You ready? 1, 2, 3." Damon said and he pulled on the seat and I fell out, but he caught me. "Don't worry. I got you." Damon said as he pulled me out of the car. "Can you stand? Is anything broken?" He asked and I shook my head. The pain was getting worse. He tried to place me down, but I couldn't stand. I winced as the pain got stronger. "Whoa, you're fading fast, Maddie. Maddie, look at me. Focus. Look at me." Damon said and I finally stood up.

"She looks like her." I said starting to feel myself lose consciousness.

"What?" Damon asked.

I let out a gasp as the pain got stronger. "Why does this keep happening?" I said referring to the headaches before I fell faint.

-0-

**Third Person POV**

Maddie lowered her head. "Why does this keep happening?" She said and then she fainted. Damon caught her in his arms. He held on to her for a minute as he cleared the hair out of her face before he stood up, still holding her. "Upsy daisy." He said as he stood up. He took Maddie to his car and then took Elena home. When he picked up Elena, he noticed something on the side of the road; it was Maddie's locket. He picked it up and put it in his pocket before he flashed to Elena's house.

He laid Elena in her bed, and then flashed back to the car. He looked over and saw Maddie was still unconscious in the passenger seat. He smiled as he drove off. _Here we go. _Damon thought as he started to drive.

-0-

**Maddie's POV**

"_You can't keep doing this! We're a family! We need to stick together!"_

"_Why should you care? They were going to leave you!"_

"_It doesn't matter! We're still a family!"_

"_They don't see you as family, and they never will! Why don't you see that?"_

"_I do see that, but I can change it! But not if you keep doing this!"_

"_Family or not, they didn't have a right to just leave you."_

"_And you don't have the same right for what you just did."_

"_I'm trying to protect you and this family!" He yelled and the girl winced._

I woke up and saw I was moving. _Am I in a car? Where am I? _I thought as I looked around confused. I turned my head and saw Damon and I gasped. "Morning." He smirked.

"Where are we?" I asked looking around.

"Georgia." Damon said.

"Georgia? Wait, no, no, no, why are we in Georgia? No, we can't be. Seriously Damon, where are we?" I asked, my mind scrambling.

"Seriously, we're in Georgia." Damon said as he looked at me. "How ya feeling?"

I lifted my hand to my head. "I…" I began.

"There's no broken bones. I checked." Damon said as he looked back at the road.

"There was a man. We were in Elena's car," I began trying to remember what happened. "Where's Elena? Is she ok? What happened?" I asked worriedly.

"Elena's fine. She's at home, safe and sound." Damon said.

"But…but I hit someone. He got up. I thought Logan was the only other vampire in town? Who did I hit?" I asked.

"That's what I would like to know." Damon said.

I looked around. "Damon, I need to call someone. No one knows where I am. Pull the car over." I said but Damon didn't budge. "Damon?" I said freaking out.

"Oh, you were so much more fun when you were asleep." He said pulling over. I got out of the car and tried to stand up, but I grabbed my head as I almost fell over, but Damon flashed over and held me steady. "You ok?" He asked and I just held onto my head. "You hit your head pretty hard." He said.

"Great, that's just what I need, a concussion." I said as I started to walk around and balance myself. "We have to go back." I said as I looked back at Damon.

"Oh come on. Look. We've already come this far." Damon smirked.

"Why did you bring me along? I didn't sign up for this! I can't be here in Georgia. I wrecked Elena's car and Elena is hurt. I have to go back." I said and Damon didn't budge. "This is kidnapping." I said trying to get Damon's attention.

"That's a little melodramatic, don't you think?" Damon smirked.

"You know, you're not funny." I said and Damon rolled his eyes as he walked away. "I don't want to go. I don't wanna be in Georgia." I said.

"Well, you're in Georgia." Damon smirked and I rolled my eyes. "Without your magic little locket, I might add." I reached to where my locket was supposed to be and it wasn't there. "I could very easily make you…agreeable." Damon smirked.

I looked back at him. "Damon, give it back! Where's my locket?" I asked. Damon was about to answer, but then I heard my cell phone start to ring. I looked at Damon. "That's my phone!" I exclaimed.

Damon just smirked as he pulled out my phone. "Oh, would you look at that. It's Stefan." Damon said. I reached to grab it, but Damon pulled it away. "I'll take it. Maddie's phone." Damon said.

"Where is she?" I heard Stefan ask on the other line. "Why do you have her phone?"

"Is she ok?" I heard Elena ask.

"Maddie?" Damon asked. "She's right here. And yes, she's fine." Damon said as he lifted his eyebrows. I responded with an eye roll.

"Where are they? Let me talk to her!" Elena exclaimed.

"Yeah, I don't think she wants to talk to you two right now." Damon said.

"Yes, I do!" I said as I tried to get my phone, but Damon held it away.

"Damon, I swear to God, if you touch her…" Stefan began.

"You have a good day. Mm-hmm. Bye now." Damon smirked as he hung up.

"Come on! Can we just go back?" I asked.

"We're almost there." Damon whined.

"Where is there?!" I exclaimed.

"A little place right outside of Atlanta. Come on, Maddie. Where's your sense of adventure?" Damon asked as he smirked, saying the phrase I used on Elena all the time. I sighed. "What's the rush? Take a time out. Trust me; your problems are still going to be there when you get home. Look, step away from your life for 5 minutes." He said and I gave him a look. "5 minutes." He begged.

"How come I'm getting the feeling you're trying to get me to do drugs?" I asked, a little sarcasm in my voice.

He smirked. "You're just gonna need to trust me."

"Am I going to be safe with you?" I asked more serious.

"Yes."

"Where's my locket?" I asked.

"Must have fallen off during the crash." Damon said.

I sighed as I leaned up against the car. "Ok, ok. But you need to promise not to do that mind control thing on me."

"Alright, I promise." Damon said.

"Can I trust you?"

"Get in the car." Damon said as he walked over to the driver's side.

I sighed. "And the adventure begins." I said as I walked over to the other side.

-0-

**Third Person POV**

"Hey," Stefan said as he walked up to Bonnie at school.

"Hi." Bonnie said.

"I haven't seen you lately. How are you doing with everything?" Stefan asked as he caught up with Bonnie.

"I'm fine. It's all fine." Bonnie responded.

"Good."

"Yeah…are you back in school?" Bonnie asked.

"No, actually I came here to find you." Stefan said. "I was hoping you could help me with something. A spell."

Bonnie sighed. "Stefan, look. I know Elena and Maddie are ok with all of this, and I appreciate what you did to help me, but I'm not really ready to dive into it with you just yet." Bonnie said.

"I understand that. But I need your help." Stefan said.

"Actually, we need your help." Elena said as she approached Bonnie and Stefan.

"It's Maddie. She's with Damon." Stefan continued.

-0-

Stefan, Elena, and Bonnie all sat down at a nearby table. "I wish I had her locket, but this was the only thing Elena could find." Stefan said holding out a bracelet.

"She doesn't wear it all the time, but she does where it sometimes." Elena explained.

"We were just hoping it was enough for you to get us a connection. We just need to make sure she's ok." Stefan said.

"Are you sure I can do this?" Bonnie asked.

"Yes, because I've known a few witches over the years. I've seen what they can do." Stefan said.

"I'm still new at it." Bonnie said.

"It's ok." Stefan said handing Bonnie Maddie's bracelet. "Give it a shot."

"Ok," Bonnie said as she closed her eyes and focused on the bracelet. Stefan and Elena exchanged glances and Bonnie sighed. "There's nothing. Nothing's happening. Usually there's an image or…" Bonnie began but saw the worried look on Elena and Stefan's faces. "Tell me if anyone's looking." Bonnie asked both of them as she leaned over and picked up a leaf. She hovered her hands above it, seeing if she could make it move, but nothing happened.

"What is it?" Stefan asked once Bonnie gave up.

"Something's wrong." Bonnie said.

"With Maddie?" Elena asked.

"With me. There's something wrong with me. I have to go. I'm sorry Elena and Stefan. I can't help you guys." Bonnie said as she freaked out and ran off. Elena and Stefan exchanged worried glances.

-0-

**Maddie's POV**

The radio was on and Damon and I were listening to it. But there was too long of a silence, which made me uncomfortable. "So where's Elena's car?" I asked.

"I pulled it off on the side of the road. I don't think anyone will bother it." Damon said, obviously really bored.

"What about that vampire? Did you know him?" I asked.

"Nope." Damon said popping the 'p.' "I mean it's not like we all hang out together at the Vamp Bar and Grill." Damon said as he pulled over.

"Where are we now?" I asked as I looked around. "You brought me to a bar?" I sighed. "One, I'm not old enough so they're not gonna let me in. Two, I hate drinking anyway." I said.

"Sure they will." Damon smirked as he walked towards the bar. He clapped a couple of times, urging me to hurry up. I responded with an eye roll as I followed him inside.

We walked in and the bartender looked at Damon, obviously recognizing him. "No, no, it can't be." She said. "Damon." She said as she climbed over the bar. "My honey pie." She approached us and was standing in front of Damon now. She grabbed him and they started making out. Seeing this as an awkward situation, I walked over to a chair and sat down, ignoring Damon's love fest.

After they were done, the girl walked over behind the bar and Damon came over and grabbed my arm to get my attention and motioned me to sit at the bar. I really didn't feel like arguing, so I went and sat down. The girl held up a bottle. "Listen up, everybody! Here's to the man that broke my heart, crushed my soul, destroyed my life, and ruined any and all chances of happiness!" She said as she started pouring shots and handing them to all of us. "Drink up!" She said lifting her glass. Everyone else did the same and drank their shot. I just held mine in my hand, then Damon took it and drank it. "Ahh. Whoo!" She turned to me. "So how'd he rope you in?" She asked.

"No, no, I'm not roped in. There is no roping involved." I said as I shuttered at the thought.

"Honey, if you're not roped, you're whipped. Either way, just enjoy the ride." She said.

"Ok," I sighed, obviously not getting through to her. "So how did you two meet?" I asked.

She laughed. "College."

My eyes widened. "You went to college?" I asked as I laughed at the idea.

"I've been on a college campus, yes." Damon said. _Okay, that makes more sense._

"About 20 years ago, when I was a sweet, young freshman, I met this beautiful man, and I fell in love. And then he told me about his little secret, made me love him more. Because, you see, I had a little secret of my own that I was dying to share with somebody." She said.

"Don't tell her. It's fun to watch her figure it out." Damon smirked.

I rolled my eyes as I thought about what she said. "So, I'm guessing you're not a vampire, so that leaves a witch." I said.

"Ding ding ding! We have a winner." Damon said as he leaned over to the side.

She just smiled. "Changed my world."

"I rocked your world." Damon smirked.

She laughed. "He is good in the sack, isn't he?"

"Ok," I said feeling very uncomfortable. "I think we should stop this conversation." I could feel Damon smirk.

"He's mostly just a runaway joe." She said as she walked off. "So, what is it that you want?"

-0-

I finally convinced Damon to give me my phone so I could call Elena. Him and Bree were talking inside, and yes I finally got her name from her.

"Hi, Elena." I said as she picked up.

"Maddie! Where are you? Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. How is everyone?" I asked.

"I told them that you spent the night at your old house because you were feeling a little home sick." Elena said.

"Oh, thank you so much, Elena."

"How's Damon acting?"

"Surprisingly, not too bad. I mean, it could be a lot worse. I just wanna go home."

"Stay safe, ok?" Elena asked.

"Alright, I will. How are you and Stefan getting along?"

"I'm trying to avoid Stefan, but when I woke up last night, I asked for his help. Other than that, I am trying to dodge the whole Katherine thing."

"Don't worry, we'll get it straightened out."

"I hope so." Elena said and we hung up. I was about to walk back into the bar, but then I got a headache. It wasn't a big one, but it still hurt. I kept hearing 'Katherine' over and over again.

"You ok?" I heard Damon asked and the voices stopped.

"Yeah, just…confused." I said thinking about why I kept hearing the word 'Katherine.'

"Well, that's a first." Damon smirked as we went back in and ordered something to eat. While we were eating, Damon spoke up again. "So, what's got you all confused?"

"Well, Elena has to be related to Katherine somehow. Does that mean she's part vampire?" I asked.

"Vampire can't procreate. But we love to try." Damon smirked and I just gave him a look that said 'I really didn't need to know that, and that isn't helping.' "No. If Elena and Katherine were related, it would mean Katherine had a child before she was turned."

"Is it possible?" I asked.

"She's a Pierce, and Elena is a Gilbert. There's no way." Damon said taking a sip of his drink.

"Unless she was adopted." I said throwing out random ideas. Damon looked at me for a second, then continued eating. "Is Stefan using Elena to replace her?" I asked as I ate another French fry.

"Kinda creepy if you ask me." Damon smirked. I just responded by stealing some of his fries. "Seriously, what's with you and French fries?"

"Why do you even eat, if technically…" I began but didn't finish, hoping he would catch on without me having to say it with people around.

"I'm supposed to be dead?" Damon whisper finished. "It's not such a bad word. As long as I keep a healthy diet of blood in my system, my body functions pretty normally." Damon smiled.

"Does it help? Like with the cravings?" I asked.

"Did I mention how quick you are on picking up things?" He asked.

"Yeah, and you also said this mouth of mine could get in a lot of trouble one of these days."

"Oh yeah, I remember now." Damon said and I chuckled a little.

"This nice act. Is any of it real?" I asked but Damon didn't answer me.

"Here you go, honey." Bree said as she put a bottle of beer in front of me.

"Oh, uh, I don't drink." I said.

"Honey, you either drink or sing. Club rules." Bree smiled.

"I don't, uh…" I began.

"Oh, of course she does!" Damon said and Bree smirked.

"Hey, Johnny! We got another one for you!" She said and a guy who I presumed was Johnny came and grabbed my hand.

"No, seriously, I don't sing." I said to 'Johnny.'

"Course you do. Everyone can." He said as he handed me a microphone and stopped me on stage. I looked over at Damon as if to say, 'help me!' but he just responded with a smirk and a thumbs up. I stood there as the band started playing. I recognized the song immediately; it was Livin' On A Prayer by Bon Jovi.

"Well, it is only five minutes." I said convincing myself. Since I said it out loud, Damon's could hear me because of his vampire hearing. He just smirked and I sang as soon as I was supposed to:

Once upon a time not so long ago

Tommy used to work on the docks  
Union's been on strike  
He's down on his luck...  
It's tough, so tough

Gina works the diner all day  
Working for her man,  
She brings home her pay  
For love, for love

She says, "We've gotta hold on to what we've got.  
It doesn't make a difference if we make it or not.  
We've got each other and that's a lot.  
For love we'll give it a shot."

Whoa, we're half way there  
Whoa, livin' on a prayer  
Take my hand and we'll make it - I swear  
Whoa, livin' on a prayer

Tommy's got his six string in hock  
Now he's holding in  
What he used to make it talk  
So tough, it's tough

Gina dreams of running away  
When she cries in the night  
Tommy whispers,  
"Baby, it's okay, someday...

...We've gotta hold on to what we've got.  
It doesn't make a difference if we make it or not.  
We've got each other and that's a lot.  
For love we'll give it a shot."

Whoa, we're half way there  
Whoa, livin' on a prayer  
Take my hand and we'll make it - I swear  
Whoa, livin' on a prayer

Livin' on a prayer

We've gotta hold on ready or not  
You live for the fight when it's all that you've got

Whoa, we're half way there  
Whoa, livin' on a prayer  
Take my hand and we'll make it - I swear  
Whoa, livin' on a prayer

Whoa, we're half way there  
Whoa, livin' on a prayer  
Take my hand and we'll make it - I swear  
Whoa, livin' on a prayer

When I was done singing, everyone in the bar cheered. I just smiled as I handed back the microphone and sat down by Damon. He just looked at me shocked. "So, what's for dessert?" I asked him and Bree and they just both laughed.

-0-

"Ha! That's another win for me!" I said as I hit the 8 ball in. Damon and I were playing pool and I was a little high on a sugar rush.

"How are you so good at this?" Damon asked as we were getting the balls back out.

"Jealous?" I asked and Damon just laughed as someone else from the bar set up a game to play against me. I heard my cell phone ring and I ran over to the table to answer it. "Hello?"

"Maddie, where are you? Jenna and everyone else is getting worried." Elena said on the other line.

"Hold on, I can't really hear you." I said as I walked outside. It was so dark when I got out that I tripped over the small fence and dropped my phone. "Well, that was graceful." I said to myself as I reached over to look for my phone. Someone grabbed my from behind and drug me away as I tried to scream.

-0-

**Third Person POV**

Damon went and sat down after Maddie and another girl started playing pool. Bree walked up to him. "So, where's your girl?" She asked.

Damon looked around. "Hmm. She was just right there." He said looking back at the pool table. He looked around and noticed the door was open and walked out the back. He looked around and saw Maddie's phone on the ground. Worried about what happened, he picked it up and wandered around to the back of the bar in search for her.

He walked around the complex until he heard her voice. "Damon, watch out!" Maddie shouted and Damon was thrown back and his attacker hit him with a metal pipe. Maddie climbed down from the water tower that she was put on and ran towards Damon. His attacker flashed and came back with a bucket of gasoline and dumped it on Damon. "No!" Maddie screamed as she ran towards him. The attacker looked at her with his vampire eyes and she stopped, coming up with a plan.

Damon's attacker continued to pour the gasoline on him. "Who are you?" Damon said, still on the ground.

"That's perfect. You have no idea." He said.

"What are you talking about? What did he do?" Maddie asked.

He looked back at Maddie. "He killed me girlfriend."

**Maddie's POV**

He turned back to Damon and kept dumping more fuel on him. "What did she do to you, huh? What did she do to you?!" He yelled.

"Nothing." Damon winced.

"Wait, what happened?" I asked, trying to figure out who this was.

"My girlfriend went to visit Stefan, and Damon killed her. Got it?" He hissed.

_Is he talking about Lexi? _Elena had told me the story of Lexi and her boyfriend, so I was guessing this was him. "You're Lexi's boyfriend? But she said you were human." I said.

"I was." Lexi's boyfriend said as tears came to his eyes. He turned back to Damon and got out a lighter.

I freaked out and started talking again. "Lexi turned you?"

"If you want to be with someone forever, you have to live forever." He said as he looked back at me. Damon tried to get up, but he kicked him back down.

"She loved you." I blurted, trying to get his attention. "She said, 'when it's real, you can't walk away.'"

"Well that's a choice you're not gonna have to make." He snarled.

"Please, please, please don't hurt him!" I said as I still stood there afraid.

"I'm doing you a favor." He said.

"Lexi loved you and she was good. That means you're good too. Don't be like him." I said and he looked at me. "Don't do this. I'm begging you! Please…" I said, on the verge of tears. He looked back at Damon and picked him up. He held him for a couple of seconds then threw him into the side of the building. Damon groaned in pain and he slowly turned around to face me. "Thank you." I said.

"It wasn't for you." He hissed as he flashed off. I ran up to Damon and helped him up.

-0-

"So, just outta curiosity, why did you bring me along?" I asked Damon. It was the next day and Damon was driving us home.

"Well, you're not the worst company in the world, Maddie. You should give yourself more credit." Damon smirked.

"Well, I am the life of the party." I said earning a chuckle from Damon. "But seriously, though. What's the real reason?"

"Well, you were there in the road. All damsel in distress-like. And I knew it would piss off Stefan and Elena. And…you're not the worst company in the world, Maddie." Damon smirked.

"Well, I gotta admit, it was a little bit fun." I said.

"And I got to admit, you don't have a terrible voice."

I acted shocked. "Did Damon Salvatore just give me a compliment?" I fake gasped.

"Don't get used to it." Damon smirked.

I smiled as I realized something. "I saved your life." I said smirking at Damon.

He smirked back. "I know."

"And don't you forget it." I said and we listened to the music from the car radio.

-0-

**Third Person POV **

"Hi." Elena said as she walked into Stefan's room, finally ready to talk to him about Katherine now that she knew Maddie was safe.

"Hi." Stefan said as he got up from his desk.

"You could have told me." Elena said.

"I wanted to tell you."

"You said no more lies. Only the truth. I can handle the truth, Stefan. As crazy as it is, I can handle the fact that you are a vampire. And you have a vampire brother that kidnapped my best friend. And that my best friend is a witch. I can accept the fact that the world is much more mysterious place than I ever thought possible. But this—this lie, I cannot take." Elena said as she slowly walked towards Stefan. "What am I to you? Who am I to you?"

"You are not Katherine. You are the opposite of everything that she was."

"And when did you figure that out? Before you kissed me? Before we slept together?" Elena asked getting annoyed.

"Before I met you." Stefan responded.

"What?" Elena was confused.

"The first day of school, when we met. It wasn't for the first time, Elena."

"Then when was it?"

"May 23, 2009."

"But that was…" Elena said remembering the day her parents died.

"That was the day your parents' car went off the bridge."

Elena was annoyed and on the verge of tears. "You were there?"

"Every couple of years that I come back here to see Zach and see my home. And last spring, I was out in the woods, by old wicker bridge. And I heard the accident. All of it. I was fast getting there, but not fast enough. The car was already submerged. Your dad…he was still conscious. I was able to get to him, but he wouldn't let me help him until I helped you." Stefan said and Elena started to cry.

"Oh, my god. When I woke up in the hospital, nobody could figure out how I got out of the car. They said it was a miracle." Elena cried.

"I went back for them. But it was too late. I couldn't…I couldn't save them." Stefan said, on the verge of tears also. "When I pulled you out, I looked at your face. You looked like Katherine. I couldn't believe the resemblance. After that, I spent months making sure that you weren't her. I watched you. I learned everything that I could about you. And I saw that you were nothing like Katherine. And I wanted to leave town, but, Elena, I couldn't. I couldn't leave without knowing you. I'm so sorry that I didn't tell you. I wanted to. But you were so sad." Stefan finished.

Elena just wasn't taking it in. "Why do I look like her?"

"Elena, you've been through so much." Stefan began.

"Why do I look like her, Stefan? What are you not telling me?"

"It didn't make any sense to me. You were a Gilbert. She was a Pierce. But the resemblance was too similar. And then I learned the truth. You were adopted, Elena."

Elena gasped and had to sit down. "How do you know this?"

"Your birth certificate from the city records. It says 'Elena Gilbert. Mystic Falls General.' But there's no record of your mother ever being admitted. There's no record of her ever being pregnant."

"What else do you know?" Elena asked as she turned towards Stefan.

"For me to go any further, I would've had to look into the Pierce family, and I couldn't do that. It's too much of a risk. If someone found out I was asking about Katherine…Listen to me," Stefan said as he saw Elena starting to freak out. "It doesn't matter. You are the woman that I love. I love you." Stefan said. Elena then leaned in and kissed him and then Stefan hugged her.

-0-

**Maddie's POV**

I stood in front of the door of Elena's house, ready to face the music with Jenna. _Well, it's now or never. _I thought as I walked in. Jenna was on the couch as looked over as I walked in; she looked mad. "Look, I know you're mad."

"Of course I'm mad. Not about the fact you never came back and I got worried, but the fact you or Elena didn't tell me. Where were you?" Jenna said getting up from the couch as Elena walked in.

"Look, I can explain…" I began.

"Oh, I know you can." Jenna said to me. "But you," She looked at Elena. "I don't set a lot of rules around here, Elena. Why did you lie to me about where Maddie was? I thought that we were closer than that." Jenna said as she walked up to Elena while I was standing off to the side.

"Now is not the time you want to talk to me about lies." Elena said annoyed.

"Don't do that. Don't turn this back on me." Jenna said as Elena walked towards the stairs. "I didn't do anything." Elena now faced Jenna as she said this.

"Ok, question. Am I adopted?" Elena asked and Jenna gulped as my eyes widened. _So she is related to Katherine. Explains a lot…_ "I trust you to tell me the truth too, Jenna. How could you not tell me? I thought we were closer than that." Elena snapped as she ran upstairs.

"Elena I didn't…they asked me not to." Jenna said.

"I don't want to hear it!" Elena exclaimed.

Jenna looked at me, not knowing what to do. "If you forgive me, I'll go talk to her." I said with a small smile.

"Deal." She said and I smiled as I went up the stairs to talk to Elena.

"Elena…" I began as I opened the door.

"How could she lie to me?" Elena cried from her bed.

"She didn't intend to…"

"But she did! She gets mad at me for keeping secrets, when she can't even tell me the one secret I should know!"

"Wait, hold on." I said as I ran to my room and returned back to Elena's with two big bags of gummy bears.

"What are those for?" She asked.

"You're upset. And when people are upset, they need sugar. Hence, the gummy bears." I said and Elena cracked a smile. She told me about what happened with her and Stefan and everything he said to her. When she was done, she looked at me. "So how was your road trip?" She asked.

"Well…" I began.


	12. Unpleasantville

"So, let me get this straight. So if you're wearing vervain, or it's in your system, you can't be compelled by a vampire?" I asked Stefan.

"That's right." Stefan said handing Elena and I the box of vervain and vervain jewelry. "Since there is a new vampire in town, we have to be careful. Do you remember anything else about him?" Stefan asked me.

"Not really. I never saw his face. He was wearing a hoodie and I just saw black boots coming towards me." Stefan was over at our house and we were discussing about the whole new vampire situation.

"Maddie, Elena, I need the money!" Jeremy yelled upstairs. Jeremy had ordered pizza because Jenna had to stay late to write her report at the college.

"I'll take care of it." I told Elena and Stefan as I grabbed the money and went down the stairs. I pulled out a ten dollar bill and handed it to him. "Here, keep the change." I said.

"Thanks. And you have a good night." The pizza guy said as he walked out.

-0-

**Third Person POV**

Damon was looking through different books and pulling them off the bookshelves. "What are you looking for, Damon?" Stefan asked as he walked in, noticing all of the books on the ground.

"Not your concern." Damon said as he continued to search.

"No, but putting Maddie in harm's way. That is my concern." Stefan said.

"What are you talking about?" Damon chuckled.

"I'm talking about Atlanta." Stefan clarified.

"Oh, yeah. Maddie and I had a blast. Besides, shouldn't you be worried about Elena? I mean, she is your girlfriend."

This time it was Stefan's turn to let out a laugh. "I get it. You're just bitter because one of us gets to be with the person that we love, and poor Katherine is just out of reach. Besides, you know I think of Maddie as a sister. So I'm guessing Bree told you there was another way into the tomb, huh?"

"You're pathetic when you're fishing." Damon said as he continued his search.

"And you're transparent when you're deflecting." Stefan responded.

Damon got annoyed at Stefan. "Don't you have school?"

Stefan just smiled as he walked off, leaving Damon alone to search through more books.

-0-

**Maddie's POV**

"Oh, it's so pretty, thank you!" Caroline said after we gave her a vervain necklace.

"Maddie's the one who picked it out." Elena said.

"God, it'll go with, like, everything. Thanks! So what's the occasion?" Caroline asked us.

"No occasion. Just a little friend gift." Elena said.

"Think of it as a good luck charm." I smiled.

"Lesbian friend necklace, 'cause we're freakylace like that?" Carline joked as she winked at us.

"Your friendship is important to me." Elena said.

"And by me, she means us." I added and they both giggled.

"Why are you two being so mushy?" Caroline asked as we sat on one of the benches outside of the school for lunch.

"Because you've been avoiding me. And I wanted you to know whatever is going with you and Matt, it's ok." Elena said.

Caroline's eyes widened. "I was gonna talk to you about that. I was, but there's just not much to say. We've hung out a couple of times. That's it, but…I just feel like we've peaked as friends." Caroline said.

"Matt and Caroline sitting in a tree…" I began singing.

"Grow up!" Caroline laughed as she threw some carrots at me. "You know, this is weird. I shouldn't be talking to you about this, especially with little Ms. Immature over here." Caroline joked.

"Hey! I am not immature! I'm the funnest person you will ever meet!" I said flashing a big smile.

"It's weird, though. It's weird, right?" Caroline asked.

"It's a little weird, but if it's what you and Matt want, then it's not about me." Elena reassured.

Caroline looked confused. "But it's all about you." Elena now looked confused, but I could see where Caroline was coming from. "Matt's not over you, and we all know it."

"I'm with Stefan now, and Matt understands that. He knows he has to move on." Elena said, but Caroline wasn't really buying it.

She looked over at me. "Didn't I just throw those at you?" She asked referring to the carrots I was eating.

"Yeah…" I said taking another bite.

"And you just picked them back off of the ground and are eating them?" She asked, a little horrified.

"Three second rule." I smiled. Caroline and Elena both 'ewwed.' "What? They looked clean." I said innocently and we all just laughed.

-0-

I was at the Grill. Bonnie and Elena were talking about Elena's adoptive situation, and I was just hanging out with some random people at school as we were playing pool when Elena walked up to me. "You ready?"

"I was ready like an hour ago." I said with a smile.

"Shut up," Elena laughed. "Let's just go to the store."

"Alrighty." I said and we walked out to the car. We were almost to the car, when Elena's cell phone rang.

"Hello?" Elena asked.

"Hi Elena." I heard someone say on the other line.

"Who's this?" She asked as she unlocked the car.

"You're friend hit me with her car." He said and Elena looked at me. We exchanged glances; we were both frightened. "Is that a new one?" Elena tried to open the door to the car as I looked around. "You got away from me. You won't next time." He said. I looked around and I saw him walking towards us on the other side of the road.

Elena finally got in the car and I jumped in. "Drive!" I said frantically, and she didn't hesitate to drive off.

-0-

Elena and I went over to Stefan's house the next day. We told him what happened last night. "Why me? What does he want with me? A-and if he's trying to kill me, then why call first?"

"That's because we're predators. We hunt. We stalk. It's often as exciting as the kill. And are you sure he's just after you?" Stefan asked.

"He specified that Elena got away from him, not the both of us. I think he's just after Elena, but I could be wrong." I said.

"I want you to take this." Stefan said handing out Jeremy's pocket watch to Elena.

"This is Jeremy's pocket watch. How did you get it?" Elena asked.

"I took it from Damon, who took it from Logan, who must have taken it from you." Stefan clarified.

"What happened to it?" Elena asked looking at it.

"Well, it's not just a watch. It's a—it's a sort of compass, but it points to vampires." Stefan said.

"So like a vampire tracker?" I asked.

"Kind of." Stefan said. Elena and I looked at the watch as it spun around and then stopped, pointing at Stefan.

"Why did my father have it?" Elena asked.

"Gilbert's were one of the founding families, and back in 1864, they were among those who sought to eradicate the vampires. The compass was used to find us."

"Did you know them?"

"Yes." Stefan nodded. "I want you two to keep this, that way, you'll know if you're ever in danger." Elena and I both nodded.

-0-

Elena and I were both ready for the 50s dance as we came down the stairs. Elena placed her bag on the chair and I grabbed an apple. "Well, I called the insurance company. The car's totaled." Jenna said. She was more saying it to Elena, but they hadn't really been talking much. "You two can use mine for now."

"So are you coming to the dance?" Elena asked.

"Alaric asked me to help chaperone." Jenna said smiling.

"…Alaric and Jenna sitting in a tree." I began singing again until a throw pillow was thrown at me. I looked over and Jenna was laughing. I laughed too, but Elena was still quiet. We both looked at her.

"Why didn't you tell me, Jenna?" Elena asked.

"Your mom was gonna do it eventually. I never thought I'd have to." Jenna said.

"If my mom were here right now, and I asked, she'd tell me the truth." Elena stated.

"Your dad was about to leave the office one night when this girl showed up. She was 16, a runaway, and about to give birth. He delivered the baby, gave her a place to stay, but a few days later, she disappeared. And there you were. Your parents were trying so hard to have a baby, but it wasn't happening. All Miranda ever wanted was to be a mom." Jenna explained. I just ate my apple as I listened.

"Well, why were my parents' names on the birth certificate?" Elena asked.

"Your dad was a doctor, Elena. He took care of it. They didn't wanna lose you, so they kept it quiet, told as few people as possible, but if anyone ever wanted proof, they had documentation."

"What else do you know about her? The girl?" Elena asked.

"Just her name. Isabelle." Jenna said.

-0-

"Maddie, was that you?" I heard Elena ask from her room. Jenna and Jeremy had already left to the dance, but Elena and I stayed behind because we were still working on our 50s outfits.

"Was what me?" I asked as I finished fixing my bracelet. I knew I needed to go back to the site where I crashed Elena's car to find my locket, but until then, I needed something to help me from being compelled.

"Wait, are you upstairs?" Elena asked as I walked to her room.

I stuck my head in her doorway. "Yeah…why?" I asked. Elena opened her mouth to answer, but we both heard the compass start spinning. Elena and I both exchanged glances before she whirled around and picked up the compass.

"Call Stefan." Elena said.

"On it!" I said as I dialed Stefan's number and Elena ran downstairs.

"Stefan's phone. How may I help you?" I heard Damon say.

"Where is he?" I asked.

"He's on his way to get Elena, forgot his phone." Damon said.

"Oh good! This compass was spinning like crazy. Stefan's probably here. Thanks." I sighed.

"You're welcome," Damon said and hung up.

"It's just Stefan." I yelled downstairs but heard Elena scream. I ran down and saw a vampire about to bite Elena, but Stefan came in and threw him off and pushed Elena away. I ran over to Elena to help her up as the vampire flashed out.

Elena got up and ran to Stefan. "Are you ok?" He asked and Elena just nodded. I was just looking at the door, remembering the night before. _He was the pizza guy! _ "Maddie," Stefan said, getting my attention. "Call Damon." I nodded and Damon was here in less than five minutes.

"How'd he get in?" Damon asked when he got here. I was leaning against the stairway and Elena and Stefan were on the couch.

"He was invited in." Elena said.

"He posed as the pizza delivery guy last night." Stefan clarified for Damon.

"Well, he gets points for that. Did he say what he wanted?" Damon asked Elena and me.

"No, he was too busy trying to kill me." Elena scoffed.

"And you have no idea who this is?" Stefan asked Damon as Damon rounded the couch.

"No," Damon said but Stefan gave him a look that said 'yeah right.' "Don't look at me like that. I told you we had company."

"You think there's more than one?" Elena asked.

"We don't know." Damon said.

"Well," I said as I walked up and stood behind the couch. "That's reassuring."

"Damon, he was invited in." Stefan said.

Damon nodded. "Then we go get him tonight." Damon looked at me and Elena. "You two up for it?"

I nodded and so did Elena. "What do I have to do?" Elena asked.

"Let your boyfriend take you to the dance. We'll see who shows up." Damon said.

"That's a bad idea." Stefan said.

"Till we get him, this house isn't safe. For Elena and anyone who lives in it." Damon said nodding my way.

"So does that mean I should stay here in case Jenna or Jeremy come home?" I asked, still standing behind the couch.

"Too dangerous. Elena and Stefan are sticking together, so you and I will have to team up." Damon said as he looked at me.

"But what will happen if one of them comes back and he's here?" I asked.

"There'll be nothing you can do, anyway." Damon said as he stood up.

"I could do something." I argued.

Damon flashed behind me and held me in a position where I couldn't move. "It takes a vampire that long to get a hold of you, and half of that to snap your neck." He said still holding onto me.

"Alright, fine, I get it. I'll go." I sighed and Damon let go.

"Me too." Elena said. Stefan looked worried. "We'll be safe with the two of you." Elena reassured.

-0-

Elena, Stefan, Damon, and I got to the dance. I was really surprised on how the decorations turned out. Everyone was dancing and it really did feel like we were in the 50s. Stefan and Damon searched for the vampire we saw tonight and Elena and I met up with Caroline and Bonnie. "Having fun?" Elena asked them.

"No, but this took 2 hours," Caroline began as she referred to her outfit. "So I'm staying at least half of that." We all giggled.

"What's Damon doing here?" Bonnie asked.

"He wanted to come." Elena said.

"Don't worry, he'll behave." I reassured.

"What is this now? Elena and Stefan, and you and Damon?" Caroline asked annoyed.

"Oh, please. The possibility of me and Damon is the same as if the stars and moon collided." I retorted. "Plus, Stefan and Elena are dating, and since we both live under the same roof, we both have to learn to tolerate Damon."

"Yeah, it's not like we can kill him." Elena added.

"There's a thought." Bonnie said.

"Mmm. I'll help." Caroline added as they clinked their glasses with punch in them. Elena and I just chuckled. Elena walked over to Stefan, but I stayed with Caroline and Bonnie.

We were all laughing but then Bonnie stopped. Caroline and I looked over and saw Damon coming over to us. "Hi, Bonnie. Wanna dance?" Damon smirked.

"I'm outta here." Bonnie said annoyed as she turned to leave.

"Please give me another chance." Damon said and Bonnie just rolled her eyes as she walked off.

"Back off, Damon." Caroline glared and followed Bonnie. Damon looked at me, but I just took a sip of my punch, trying to hide the amusement on my face.

Elena and Stefan walked up to us. "Where did they go?" Elena asked.

"I don't know." Damon said innocently.

"What did you say to them?" Stefan asked, enjoying this as much as I was.

"I was perfectly polite." Damon said.

"When are you going to realize that polite doesn't suit you?" I asked as I walked around the punch bowl and was now standing in the circle we created.

Damon just rolled his eyes and looked at Elena. "Elena, would you like to dance?" He asked.

"I would love to." She said and Damon smirked. Elena turned to Stefan. "May I have this dance?" She asked Stefan. I had to purse my lips together just to keep from laughing.

Stefan and Elena both walked to the dance floor and I let out a small giggle. "Not funny." Damon commented.

"Kinda is." I chuckled.

"Would you like to dance?" Damon smirked.

"Well…." I said dragging out the 'well' pretending like I was considering it.

"Maybe this might change your mind." Damon said as he pulled out a locket. But not just any locket, it was my locket.

My eyes widened. "Where did you get that?! Give it back!" I said as I reached for my locket.

"Ah, ah, ah. One dance, and then you can have it back." Damon said as he held my locket out of my reach.

"Damon Salvatore, are you blackmailing me?" I chuckled folding my arms.

"Come on, it's just one dance." Damon smirked.

"Fine," I said giving in and he led me onto the dance floor.

He held out his hand and twirled me around until we were in a normal slow dance position. He chuckled at my surprised reaction. "Surprised?" He smirked.

"I didn't know you could dance." I said.

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me." Damon smirked as he looked around the room, searching for the vampire.

"Can't you guys sense each other, or something?" I asked.

"Doesn't work that way."

"What was it like? The 50s?" I asked as he twirled me again.

"Poodle skirts, flashy colors, jocks and milkshakes. Pretty boring if you ask me."

"Why? No vampire drama?" I joked.

"There's always vampire drama." Damon smirked.

"Yay." I said very unenthusiastically. I noticed it started feeling really hot in here and I felt another migraine start to surface. "Hey, I'll be right back." I said as he slow dance ended.

"Where you going?" Damon asked concerned.

"It's just a little too hot in here. I'm gonna go take a breather." I said as I headed off towards the bathrooms. Damon just shrugged his shoulders and walked towards the punch bowl.

I ran to one of the bathrooms on the farther end of the school. I started getting really dizzy and grabbed my head in pain as images started appearing in my head. It looked like an old bar and people were having a good time. I fell to the floor as the pain increased and then everything went black.

-0-

**Third Person POV**

He watched as she ran into the bathroom. He heard her groan in pain, and then there was silence. He walked in and saw her fainted on the floor. He smiled as he carried her out and into the closet located in the basement, locking it.

-0-

Elena and Stefan were over by the punch bowl. They looked over and saw Damon dancing with a random girl on the dance floor. "You can't take him anywhere, can you?" Elena chuckled.

"Uh, no." Stefan said.

"Wasn't Maddie with Damon?" Elena asked.

"Uh, no. I don't think she was. Come to think of it," Stefan said as he looked around. "I haven't seen her for a while."

Elena got worried and looked around. And then she saw the vampire, which didn't ease her worries. "Stefan," Elena said as she looked at Stefan. "The back corner." Elena looked back at the vampire.

Stefan followed her gaze. "Get Damon. And find Maddie." Stefan said as he took off following the vampire.

Elena frantically searched for Damon and Maddie when her cell phone rang. She quickly answered it. "Hello, Elena." The vampire said and Elena was frozen. "Here's what you're going to do. There's an exit door behind you. You have five seconds."

"No," Elena said.

"Or your brother dies." Elena quickly turned to see Jeremy, and the vampire just a few feet away from him. "I can snap his neck so fast; I bet there's not even a witness. And then I'll go straight for your friend. Now start walking." He demanded.

"Don't you dare touch him," Elena said as she started walking towards the door.

"Keep walking." He instructed. "Through the door." Elena shut off her phone and ran through the hallway. She made it to the end and tried to open the doors, but they were locked. She turned around and saw him. She ran into the cafeteria and tried the emergency exit doors, but they wouldn't budge either. She turned around and he was right in front of her. Elena tried to run away, but he grabbed her by the hair and kept her in place.

He threw her across the table and she fell on the ground, in search for something to protect herself with. She grabbed a couple of pencils before she was thrown against the wall. He went to bite her, but she stabbed him multiple times with the pencils and he fell to the floor.

Elena looked over and reached for the mop. She broke it in half and tried to use the broken edge to stab him with it. His reflexes were faster; he threw the piece of wood off to the side and lunged for Elena. Elena screamed just as Stefan came in and threw him off of her. "Hey dickhead." Damon said as the vampire turned around; Damon had a wooden plank in his hand. "Nobody wants to kill you. We just wanna talk." The vampire tried to run off, but Damon threw the plank at Stefan and Stefan stabbed him with it.

"Now you feel like talking?" Stefan asked the vampire.

"Screw you." He spat.

Stefan plunged the plank in deeper. "Wrong answer. Why are you doing this?"

"Because it's fun." The vampire said like it wasn't obvious.

"Where's Maddie?" Elena asked.

"Kill me, and you'll never find her."

Stefan pulled the plank upward. "What do you want with Elena?"

He looked at Elena. "She looks like Katherine."

This got both Damon and Stefan's attention. "You knew Katherine?" Damon asked.

"Oh, you thought you were the only ones. You don't even remember me." He said.

"Tell me how to get in the tomb. Hmm?" Damon said, lowering to his eye level.

"No." He said and Stefan pushed the plank even deeper. "The grimoire." He groaned.

"Where is it?" Damon asked.

"Check the journal. The journal." He gasped. "Jonathan's journal. Jonathan Gilbert's." He said and Damon stood up. Elena gasped in horror at what she was witnessing, and neither one of them noticed Anna watching the whole thing from the window in the doorway.

"Who else is working with you?" Stefan asked. Anna's eyes grew as she raced off and Alaric walked around the corner.

"Who else is there?" Damon asked when he wouldn't answer.

"No," The vampire said. "You're gonna have to kill me." Stefan pulled out the stake, and then plunged it in his heart. The vampire turned gray and was dead.

"How are—how are you going to find the others now?" Elena gasped.

"He had to die." Damon said.

"But…" Elena began.

"Elena," Stefan said and Elena faced Stefan. "He's been invited in."

"But what about Maddie? We don't know where she is." Elena said. They all looked over as they saw someone walk past the cafeteria.

"Go," Stefan said to Damon and Damon took off. Stefan turned back to Elena. "Don't worry. We'll find her."

Damon walked out and saw Alaric walking off. He flashed in front of him. "What are you doing?" Damon asked, compelling Alaric.

"Looking for Ms. Hilden." Alaric said.

"Why are you in Mystic Falls?" Damon asked.

"Got a job as a teacher."

"Do you know what I am?"

"You're my student's brother."

"Is everything you're telling me the truth?"

"Yes."

"Then forget we had this conversation." Damon said as he patted Alaric's shoulder and went to find Maddie. Little did Damon know Alaric was holding vervain.

-0-

**Maddie's POV**

My eyes fluttered open to a small room filled with darkness. _Where am I?_ _Am I still in the bathroom? _I looked around and found different types of cleaning equipment. I stood up and looked for the door. It was so dark, I could barely see anything. I found where the door is and tried to open it; it was locked. _Great, just great. _"Hello?" I yelled, but my voice was a bit raspy. I tried to jiggle the doorknob, but that wasn't working. "Someone? Anyone?" I yelled.

I looked down at my phone. _No Service….great…..just what I need. _I started kicking at the door as hard as I could. _This door looks like it's fifty thousand years old. Why won't it budge? _ I continued kicking the door, but after about five minutes of it not working, I stopped. _How am I supposed to get out of here? I can't call, kicking isn't doing squat…. _And then an idea popped into my head. It was stupid and I was going to regret the outcome, but it could work. Who knows how long I could be stuck down here.

I walked back as far as I could, and charged at the door, using my arm to push against the door. I heard a snap from the door, but just a small one. I charged at the door, this time, I was able to break through the door. I came out and fell on my side. I looked around the room. _Is this what the boiler room looks like? How did I get here? _I tried to move but the whole left side of my body hurt and I'm pretty sure I did something to my ankle because it was burning. _Great, you sprained your ankle. Caroline is going to kill you at practice next week._

I tried to stand up, but when I put weight on my left ankle, I started to fall again. I waited for myself to hit the ground, but I felt arms catch me instead. I looked up and saw Damon. "This is one of the stupidest ideas you have ever had." He said helping me up.

"Yeah, it felt stupid." I winced through the pain.

"Here, let me help you." Damon said as he picked me up. He flashed out of the boiler room and outside to where Stefan and Elena were.

"Thank God you're ok!" Elena said as Damon set me down.

"Ok isn't really the word I would use." I said as I tried to stand on my ankle.

"Where were you?" Stefan asked.

"Boiler room, in the closet. Good thing it wasn't by the gym, or else I would have never heard her banging against the door." Damon said.

"Yeah, well there's not much of a closet down there anymore." I said referring to the door I broke.

"What happened after you left?" Damon asked.

I frantically searched for something to say. _I can't tell them I'm having these weird visions. Hurry, Maddie! Think of something! _"I, uh, was walking outside. I heard something behind me, but when I turned around…well, that's all I remember." I said. _Good job Maddie! Way to dodge the bullet. _

"It was that vampire. We thought we wouldn't be able to find you." Stefan said.

"And make sure to be a little more patient the next time you want to throw yourself at a locked door." Damon said and I just rolled my eyes.

-0-

I was at the house with Stefan and Elena. They told me about everything the vampire said. "Elena, how are you doing?" Stefan asked.

"Is it weird if I say I'm doing ok?" She asked. "I don't feel as scared, but…exhilarated." Elena said.

"It's just the adrenaline. You'll crash soon." Stefan said as he came over to the couch.

"I fought back tonight. It felt good. Is that how you feel when you stand up to vampires?" Elena asked me.

"Kinda, except stupidity also has a major part in it." I said and Elena and Stefan laughed.

"Well, I wish you two didn't have to defend yourselves." Stefan said as he sat down. "I need to tell you two something, and I don't know how you're both gonna feel about it."

Elena stopped drinking her coffee and I stopped eating my sandwich. "What?" Elena asked.

"I told Damon that I'd help him get into that tomb to get Katherine back. But it was a lie. I let him believe that he could trust me." Stefan said.

Elena and I exchanged glances. "Then why would you be worried about telling us?" I asked.

"Because he can be very persuasive," Stefan began and then looked at me. "And I know you two have bonded lately."

I scoffed. "That doesn't mean I trust him. It's going to take a lot more than a road trip and a rescue for me to forget what Damon has done and who he is." I said.

"I don't want to be his enemy, but I can't let him do it." Stefan said.

"Then don't." Elena said.

"And we'll help you, whatever it takes." I added.

-0-

Stefan had left and Elena already went to bed. I was sitting in the living room, finishing up homework and reading until I felt tired. I yawned as I walked upstairs. I got to my room and got ready for bed. I was putting some clothes away in my drawers when I noticed something on my nightstand. I walked over and noticed my locket sitting there. I let out a small smile, remembering that Damon had it and he was supposed to give it back to me at the dance. I took off my bracelet and put it in my drawer as I put on my necklace.

I thought about how Damon got the necklace. _Sure, he said he found it on the side of the road, but why would he go looking for it? Knowing Damon, he probably had it the whole time. _I scoffed at the idea. But it didn't matter now. I had my locket back, and that's all that matters.


	13. Children of the Damned

I rolled over in my small twin sized bed and felt like I ran into something. Confused, I slowly opened my eyes and saw Damon lying right next to me. "Damon!" I screamed as my eyes shot open. I backed away from him but fell off the bed and smacked my body on the ground.

"Rise and shine, sleepyhead." Damon chuckled.

"Seriously Damon?" I groaned, not wanting to move.

"Come downstairs. We're going to discuss our gameplan." Damon said as he got up and went to the door.

"Joy." I said sarcastically as I got up. I could feel Damon smirking as he walked out. I laid there for a couple of minutes before I finally walked downstairs.

Elena and Stefan were on the couch. I went to a chair and sat down sideways on it, so my feet were hanging of the side of the armchair. "Alright, we have some very important business to discuss." Damon said.

"And we have to do this now, why?" Elena asked annoyed. Elena had stayed at Stefan's last night, so I'm guessing I got about the same awakening as Elena did.

"Well, we have lots to discuss now that we're all friends and working toward a common goal." Damon said and Elena, Stefan, and I exchanged glances. "So, in order to open the tomb," Damon began as he paced around the room. "We need to find the journal to get the grimoire to undo the spells. First things first—since you are Elena Gilbert," Damon said looking at Elena. "And you are very creative," He said pointing at me. "You two are on journal duty."

"Since when are we helping out?" Elena asked annoyed.

"Well, Stefan's helping, and you've taken residence in Stefan's bed, ergo…" Damon smirked.

"And me?" I asked, not wanting to hear about Elena and Stefan's sex life.

"You're just lucky enough to be caught in the middle." Damon smirked again.

"Yay." I said sarcastically.

"You two don't have to do anything you don't want to do." Stefan said.

"We'll look for it tonight." Elena said defeated.

"Good." Damon said.

"How do we know that this journal will hold the location of the grimoire?" Stefan asked. "We're really going to take the word of this vampire? He seemed like a bit of a dimwit."

"In lieu of any other options." Damon said.

"Ok, what exactly is a grimoire, anyway?" Elena asked.

"It's a book that has every spell a witch casts in it." I said and everyone looked at me. "What? I watch a lot of movies."

"Every spell that a witch casts is unique unto itself, so every witch would document their work." Stefan clarified for Elena.

"Yeah. A witch's cookbook." Damon smirked as he came over to the other armchair and sat down.

"So what about this mystery vampire? Dimwit obviously wasn't working alone. So whoever's out there knows who we are." Stefan said.

"And I don't like that disadvantage, so…chop chop." Damon clapped as got up to walk out of the room. "You know, I really like this whole menage a foursome team thing. It's got a bit of a kink to it." Damon laughed. "Don't screw it up." He sang as he walked out the front door.

"He does have-" Elena began but Stefan put a finger to his lips. He pointed to the door and then to his ear. "Oh, right, yeah."

-0-

After Elena and I went up to our rooms and got ready, we met Stefan back down in the kitchen as Elena made some coffee and I made a bowl of cereal. "Do you think Damon really believes us? That we're all trying to help him?" Elena asked.

"I don't think Damon knows what to believe. Trust isn't something that comes naturally to him." Stefan said.

"You know, I really think Damon believes that everything he's done, every move that he's made, he's done for love." I commented.

"Yeah, it's a little twisted, but kind of sad." Elena said.

"There are other ways to get what you want. You don't have to kill people. Damon has no regard for human life. He enjoys inflicting pain on others. For 145 years, every single time that I have let my guard down and let Damon back into my life, he's done something to make me regret that. I'm not going to make that mistake again." Stefan said.

"So what do you think will happen if the tomb gets open and Damon gets Katherine back?" Elena asked.

"Yeah, will they leave, or will they stay here and cause problems?" I added.

"I think that no matter what Damon promises, a lot of people will die." Stefan said.

We started looking at Jonathan Gilbert's things when Jeremy walked in.

"Hey what are you guys doing?" Jeremy asked curiously.

"Hey. Just going through some stuff, feeling all sentimental." Elena explained.

"Yeah and Elena said your dad had this whole family journal from years ago, and we thought we'd dig it up." I said.

"Jonathan Gilbert's journal?" Jeremy asked as he sat on the counter.

"Yeah. What do you know about it?" I asked.

"I just did a history report on it." Jeremy said.

"Oh, so where is it now?" Elena asked.

"I gave it to Mr. Saltzman. He wanted to see it." Jeremy explained and we all exchanged glances.

-0-

It was later that night and I heard Damon and Jenna talking in the kitchen. Damon was talking about how his father never approved of anyone he dated and Jenna was telling him about her past love interests as well. I listened as much as I could without being seen, even though Damon knew I was there the whole time. "Hello Maddie." Damon said and I finally rounded the corner.

"Hey," Jenna said turning to face me. "Where have you been? We're cooking dinner." Jenna said.

"Is Stefan and Elena with you?" Damon asked skeptically as he chopped more vegetables.

"They'll be here soon." I smiled. Stefan and Elena had both left to get the journal from Alaric at the school.

Damon finished making the rest of dinner and I started setting the table. I was walking with dishes in my hands and Damon bumped into me. "Sorry," Damon smirked as he walked around me.

I rolled my eyes. "Don't do that."

"Do what?" Damon asked innocently as he walked over to the oven.

"You know what. That move was deliberate." I said as I placed the plates on the table.

"Well, yeah, I was deliberately trying to get to the sink." Damon said as he pointed at the sink and I turned around to look at him. I just scoffed as I continued what I was doing. "Speaking of Stefan and Elena, where are they? They're missing family night, which I am enjoying immensely." Damon smirked as I walked to the counter and grabbed some bowls. I just didn't answer as I continued to set the table. "Is it real?" He finally asked.

"Is what real?" I sighed.

"This renewed sense of brotherhood." Damon said as he tasted the sauce. He turned and looked at me. "Can I trust him?" He asked.

"Yeah, you can trust him." I said without hesitating like it was obvious.

I grabbed some napkins and put them on the table. I felt Damon flash behind me so I turned around. "Can I trust him?" He asked again. I just raised my eyebrows like saying 'are you compelling me?' "I'm not compelling you, I just want to know. Honestly."

"You can trust him." I nodded. Damon and I didn't move for a little bit so I walked past him and finished setting up the table. I felt guilty the whole time, but didn't show it on my face. _He's done so many horrible things to everyone around me. Why do I feel guilty about lying to him?_

"There was a time I used to trust him with anything." Damon said as I mixed ingredients in a bowl.

"Trust breeds trust, Damon. You have to give it to get it." I said.

"Are you lecturing me?" Damon asked.

"Do you need to be lectured?" I asked as I looked at him.

"I just want her back. I'm sure you can understand that." Damon said.

I immediately thought about my family and what I would do to get them back, or at least to remember them, but I pushed that thought aside. "Yes, and I also understand that you would do anything for her." I said as I brought the bowl to the table.

"Then you understand what I will do if anyone gets in my way." Damon whispered in my ear, and then went back to the oven. _Hopefully he doesn't find out. _I thought as I imagined what Damon would do if he did. I shuttered at the horrifying thought.

Jenna came over and helped me set the table as Damon went over and played Call of Duty with Jeremy. "Wow you're really good at this. Are you sure you've never played before?" Jeremy asked.

"I'm a fast learner. Quick reflexes." I heard Damon say as Jenna and I were talking.

"He is ridiculously hot." Jenna whispered.

"Shh!" I whispered back, knowing he could hear us. "He's a tool." I said knowing Damon was rolling his eyes.

"You really need to put yourself out there. You've been here how long and how many times have you actually gone out with someone besides Elena and your friends?" Jenna asked.

"I'm just enjoying life. Plus, all the guys here are players." I said.

Jenna laughed. "Ain't that the truth."

The doorbell rang. "That must be Stefan and Elena." I said as Damon and I walked to the door.

Damon opened the door and saw Elena and Stefan standing there. "Well…" He gestured for them to talk. We walked outside and Stefan and Elena explained how when they went to go get the journal, someone had taken it. "Who took it?" Damon asked annoyed as he paced around the porch.

"We don't know." Stefan said.

"You know what, it's that teacher. There's something really off about him." Damon said.

"No he doesn't know anything. Somebody got to him right before us." Stefan explained.

"Who else knew it was there?" Damon asked.

Stefan and Elena looked into the house at Jeremy. Damon followed their gaze and then walked past us. "No. Damon, leave him out of it!" I said as we followed him inside.

"Why? What's the big deal?" Damon asked walking in the house.

"Damon!" Elena argued.

"So," Damon began as he walked in the house and sat next to Jeremy. "I heard you found a really cool journal from back in the day. Who else did you show it to?"

"Huh?" Jeremy asked, not looking away from the TV.

"Don't ask questions, just spill." Damon smirked.

Jeremy chuckled. "You're kidding me, right?"

"Jer, did you tell anyone other than Mr. Saltzman about Jonathan Gilbert's journal?" Elena asked.

"Like a friend or a close friend?" I added.

"Why is everybody so obsessed with that thing?" Jeremy asked.

"Who else did you tell?" Elena asked.

"Just that girl, Anna." Jeremy said.

"That hot weird one?" Damon asked.

"Yeah." Jeremy said.

"Wait, who is Anna?" Stefan asked.

"That's what I want to find out." Damon said.

"Is she that home schooled girl you met at the library?" I asked as Elena's phone rang.

"Yeah, she wants me to meet her at the Grill tonight." Jeremy said.

"Perfect. I'll drive." Damon said looking at me and Stefan while Elena went to answer her phone. "Come on." Damon said and Jeremy followed.

I looked at Stefan worriedly but he just shrugged it off as we went upstairs to Elena's room. "Where's Damon?" Elena asked.

"Tracking down Anna at the Grill with Jeremy." Stefan said.

"Good." Elena sighed.

"Good?" I said starting to freak out. "What if this Anna girl has the journal and he finds it before we do?" I asked. Stefan held up some papers and they both smiled. My eyes widened. "Is that…?" I began.

"Yes, it's a copy of the journal." Elena said smiling.

"How did you get it?" I asked.

"Mr. Saltzman made a copy and was kind enough to loan it to us." Stefan said.

"He did? Really?" I asked not really believing it.

"Not exactly, but we got it." Elena said.

I smiled and we each grabbed a small stack and started searching for some clues. "Here's a reference that he wrote about Emily." I said and Elena and Stefan came and sat beside me on the bed. "'The Fell family believed it should be I, not them, who protected the witch's spell book. But I feared she would haunt me from the hereafter. They mocked my fear, but it was Giuseppe Salvatore who…" I stopped and looked at Elena.

"Was he your father?" Elena asked Stefan.

"Yeah." Stefan said and I handed him the copy of the page I was reading. "'It was Giuseppe Salvatore who removed my fear. He told me he would protect the secret of the spell book. He said he would carry it to his grave.'" Stefan finished.

"Well, I guess we're going grave digging." I said sarcastically.

Stefan thought for a little bit. "No, actually Maddie, you're right. I know where it is." He said standing up.

"I was totally kidding." I said to no one in particular.

-0-

Elena drove us all to the grave site where Stefan's father was buried. We also had three shovels with us. "Why isn't your father buried in your family's tomb?" Elena asked.

"It wasn't built until after he died." Stefan said as he placed torches around where we were supposed to dig.

"Are you sure the Grimoire's in there with him?" Elena asked.

"As sure as I could be." Stefan responded.

"Great." Elena and I both said, still kinda feeling iffy about the whole grave digging thing.

"Elena, Maddie, I can do this on my own." Stefan said trying to make us feel a little more at ease.

"And we said we would do whatever we could to help." Elena said as she looked at me.

I just nodded, but still felt a little uneasy. Not at the whole fact about grave digging, but at the possibility that Damon could find out. "I know, and I appreciate that, but…" Stefan began.

"This town is my home, our home," Elena gestured to me. "Stefan, my friends and family are here. You're here."

"Yeah, and it's been a long time for me to say that I feel like I have a family here." I added.

"Exactly," Elena said. "We don't want that tomb opened any more than you do."

It was silent for a moment as we waited for Stefan to say something, but he didn't. "Well," I said breaking the silence. "Let the fun begin." I said sarcastically and Stefan handed Elena and I a shovel. "I'm sorry you have to do this." I said to Stefan as we all looked at the gravestone.

-0-

We had been digging for a while, probably dug about a good foot into the ground. I slowly stopped digging, which Elena and Stefan noticed. "What's wrong, Maddie?" Elena asked.

"You sure Damon isn't going to find out?" I asked Stefan. "Because, what if he does? He'll go on a rampage and who knows who he will hurt and…." I said really fast but tried to control myself.

"Hey," Stefan said as he came up to me and tried to calm me down. "It's ok, he's not going to find out. He still doesn't even know he gave it to my father." Stefan said.

I calmed down a bit as I realized what he was saying. "Right, because then he will go look through the other journals." I said talking it out. Stefan nodded and I smiled. "Alrighty, back to breaking the law." I said and Elena and Stefan chuckled.

-0-

We had now gotten about four and a half feet down into the ground. Stefan and I were still digging and Elena was out of the hole holding a flashlight. Elena chuckled. "What?" Stefan asked as we both looked at her.

"Not many girls can say they've done this." Elena smiled.

Stefan just looked at her as I continued to dig, until I hit something hollow. I looked up and Elena and Stefan and we all exchanged glances. Stefan started moving the dirt away from the grave as Elena helped me out of the hole. Elena gasped as Stefan opened up the coffin. "Is that it?" She asked.

He opened it up further and I saw him pull open out a book. "Yep, that's it." I said not wanting to look at the bones. I heard Stefan close the coffin and I looked back as he walked over to the edge of the hole and started to open the book.

"Well, what do you know?" I heard Damon say and my heart immediately started racing. _No, no, no, no, no, no! _We all looked over and saw a pissed off Damon. "This is an interesting turn of events."

"Told ya." I said quietly to Stefan and Elena but looked at Damon. I could honestly say that I was extremely terrified.

I waited for Elena to say something, or at least sigh at what I said, but she didn't do anything; she was probably as terrified as I was. Stefan got out of the hole and stood in front of Elena and I was standing behind both of them. "I can't let her out. I'm sorry." Stefan said.

"So am I." Damon said and we all looked confused. "For thinking for a second that I could trust you."

"Oh, you're not capable of trust." Stefan scoffed. "The fact that you're here means that you read the journal and you were planning on doing this yourself."

"Of course I was going to do it by myself, because the only one I can count on is me! You made sure of that many years ago, Stefan. And I knew I couldn't trust your little girlfriend." Damon said. "But you…" Damon said as he looked at me and stepped closer. "You had me fooled." I opened my mouth to say something, but realized there was nothing I could say to change the situation. I looked down instead because I couldn't look at Damon. "So what are you going to do now?" Damon asked once he realized I wasn't going to say anything. "Because if you try to destroy that, I'll rip her heart out." Damon said referring to me.

"You won't kill her." Stefan said.

Damon gave him a look that said 'watch me' and I was about to scream 'actually he might' but the next thing I knew, Damon flashed behind me and had his arms wrapped around my neck and one holding my arm so I couldn't get away. "I'd be doing her a favor. Her family left her; she has nothing. I could end her misery right now. And then, I'll turn Elena." Damon said as he tilted me head as if he was going to feed on me. I felt a tears about to pour out of my eyes. _He's right. I do have nothing._ "Give me the book, Stefan, or I'm snapping her neck. And then in just a few short days, I will get Elena and you and I will have a vampire girlfriend."

"Let her go first." Elena cried.

"Book." Damon demanded as he held his arm around my neck tighter, making it harder to breathe but easier for the tears to come out. Elena looked at me and started sobbing too.

"I'm not going to give this to you until she is standing next to me." Stefan said.

"Problem is, I no longer trust you'll give it back." Damon said.

"You just did the one of the things that ensures that I will." Stefan said. I felt Damon's grip on me loosen as Stefan showed him the book and set it on the ground. Damon looked down on me and I swear for the slightest second I saw his eyes soften from seeing my crying. He slowly let go and I ran over and hugged Elena and silently sobbed in her shoulder. Stefan came up behind us, put his arm around us, and led us out of the woods.

-0-

**Third Person POV**

Once Elena, Maddie, and Stefan were back at the house, Maddie ran upstairs and locked herself in her room. "I'm worried about her. Do you think she'll be okay?" Elena asked.

"From what I know about Maddie, she's strong. She's probably a little shaken up." Stefan said as they both walked into Elena's room and closed the door.

"Yeah I know, but when Damon said those things about her and her family. It's just-I've never seen her cry before. She's always so happy and…" Elena began sobbing again and Stefan pulled her into a hug.

"We'll be able to get her through this. She's very sensitive about her family; she just needs time." Stefan said and Elena nodded but then she held onto her head in pain. "You ok?" Stefan asked.

"Yeah, have a headache." Elena said. There was silence between them, then Elena spoke up again. "Are you ok?"

"Damon was right. This is, uh…this is my fault." Stefan said.

_Flashback_

_The villagers were dragging a vervained Katherine into a cart as Damon ran after to stop them. "Damon! Stop, stop." Stefan said standing in front of Damon to block his path and holding him in place. "I'll help you; we'll get her back." _

"_Help me?!" Damon said angrily as he shoved Stefan off of him. "Don't you think that you've done enough? You promised you wouldn't tell him!" Damon yelled referring to their father._

"_I didn't think this would happen." Stefan said, trying to calm Damon down. They both looked over as the cart Katherine was in was being taken away._

"_You did this! This is your fault!" Damon snarled as he ran off, hurt at what his brother had done to him._

_End Flashback_

"I put my faith in my father, but Damon put his faith in me, and I destroyed that. This is my fault." Stefan said to Elena.

"You didn't do anything wrong." Elena said holding onto Stefan's face. "Don't forget that."

Stefan nodded. He noticed Elena was still in a bit of pain. "Let me go get you some asprin." Stefan said and Elena nodded as she laid down on her bed.

Stefan walked downstairs and saw Jenna in the kitchen. "You know you're not staying the night, right?" She asked.

"We were just going to hang out for a little while." Stefan said.

"It's a good thing that I like you." Jenna said and Stefan cracked a smile. "Keep the door open."

"You got it." Stefan chuckled. "Do you have some asprin?"

"Yeah," Jenna said as she got up from the kitchen table and walked over to the medicine cabinet.

Jeremy walked out and said a quick 'hi' to Stefan as he looked around. "Where'd she go?" Jeremy asked Jenna.

"To the bathroom." Jenna said as she pulled out the asprin.

"Where did who go?" Stefan asked.

"Jeremy's got a friend over." Jenna clarified.

"Anna." Jeremy said and Stefan's eyes grew as he remembered an Anna from all those years ago. The same Anna that watched Katherine and her mother Pearl being drug into the cart. He ran upstairs. "Elena!" He yelled as he ran into her room, only to find she was gone, and her window was wide open.

Frantically, Stefan ran to Maddie's room. "Maddie! Open up! It's important!" He said trying to unlock the door. He ran through the bathroom that connected Elena's room and Maddie's, only to find that she wasn't in her room as well, with her phone left on the bed.

-0-

**Maddie's POV**

I knew I had to be sneaky, or else Stefan would hear me. I had never been so depressed in my life. I left my phone on my bed as I snuck out of the window. Once I climbed down the roof, I quickly made my way towards the woods, and headed to my old home. _Home. What a funny thing to call it. Home is where the family is, and I don't have one.  
_

I ran through the woods for what felt like forever until I got to my house. I unlocked the door with the key that was hidden under the porch. I walked inside and shut the door behind me and fell to the floor in sobs.

_Damon was right; I have nothing. My family even left me without saying goodbye. What kind of family does that? I didn't even do anything to upset them, they just walked out, and I can't even remember them, or why they left. _

I started thinking about everything else that had happened tonight. Damon was going to kill me and turn Elena if he didn't get what he wanted. _Why didn't he bring up the option of turning me? Am I really that useless that it would be better if I was dead? Did Stefan only give in because Elena's life was at stake? Am I really just a pawn that can be later thrown away when I'm not needed? _

I walked over to the couch and continued to sob as I lied down. "It's not fair." I said through a muffled cry as I slowly cried myself to sleep, not aware of the danger Elena was in.


End file.
